No Victory In Strength
by DrakusTheLiving
Summary: In which our intrepid cast discovers that the greatest power of all is the power to heal a broken heart. (Polyamory, BDSM lifestyle, NonSmut, First few chapters are Slice of Life. Main plot develops slowly)
1. Chapter 1

No Victory In Strength

Under normal circumstances, Blake Belladonna didn't need to _try_ to be stealthy. Her faunus heritage made that trivial, but these were anything but normal circumstances. Blake turned the key and unlocked her shared dorm with her teammates and limped through the door. All she needed was a few hours of sleep and her aura would bring her back up to fighting shape. She could go another day keeping her secret - another day breaking her promise to Weiss.

And then it all ended with the flick of a lightswitch. Weiss, Ruby, and even Yang were seated in chairs in a half-circle around the doorway. Ruby had rigged some kind of pulley system so she could flip on the light from the middle of the room like some kind of lamp. Their faces were typical of the girls she'd come to know. Weiss of course was sneering and discontented. Ruby seemed worried, and Yang wore a wry smile.

"Blake Belladonna... _where_ have you _been_?" Weiss began without waiting for any of the others.

The young faunus instinctively shut down her emotions and shrugged, "What? It's not _that_ late?"

"Blake…" Ruby interjected, "It's after 3:00 in the morning and this is the third time you've been out this late. We're worried…"

Blake did her best to make it to her bed without limping, "There's no big secret. I just like the night air. Besides - "

Weiss didn't let her finish, "Lies, lies, and more lies. We had a deal, faunus-girl. And before you go spinning up another fairy tale, I've already seen the bruises you've been hiding. So what is it? Hmm? Underground fight club? Solo crime fighting? Are we slowing you down? Stupid humans not fast enough for you?"

Weiss's bait would almost have worked, but Blake saw the inflammatory histrionics for what they were - just a feeble attempt to get her angry enough to let her guard down. Instead she merely slit her eyes at Weiss before rolling them away.

Blake crossed her legs and strained not to wince but failed at the last second. If only this had happened in the morning there would have been a lot less to explain.

"Who hurt you, Blake?" Ruby demanded and pleaded, "were you fighting someone? Is this some kind of faunus thing? I just need to know what's going on."

Blake pressed her lips together harder than normal, waited a few moments and then took a breath, "Alright, yes. It's a 'faunus thing' can we leave it at that?"

"Called it!" Yang sang out, and jumped into her bed as if the whole matter were settled.

Weiss looked at her as if she smelled bad, "Don't be a disgusting hooligan! Besides that's a racist stereotype!"

Now that _did_ catch Blake off-guard. There was no way Yang knew what she'd been doing, but it wasn't like her to make a bluff like that. Her intellect topped out at cheesy puns.

" _What's_ a racist stereotype?" Blake asked cautiously.

Weiss shook her head and flipped her hand to the side as if to deflect the distasteful idea from touching her, "Nevermind. It's just something my mo-I mean...some people told me that faunus have these barbaric, violent mating rituals. _Obviously_ I never believed it for a second."

Weiss's embarrassment wouldn't have been obvious to a stranger, but Blake was her friend, and she knew when the dignified heiress was backpedaling or trying to distance herself from her family's racist beliefs.

At this point, the sad young faunus knew there was no escape, so she put it as gently as she could, "That's...mostly an overgeneralization."

"See that's what I was telling Ya-wait, what?" Ruby was quick to try to move the conversation past an awkward detour and ran smack into the even more awkward truth.

"You owe me 20 lien, Weiss." Yang sang out, a smile in her voice.

Blake sighed but avoided eye contact, "A lot of humans have the wrong idea, but faunus relationships are a _lot_ more complicated than human ones - or at least they have the potential to be. I don't suppose we could leave it at that?"

"But I thought…" Ruby said, crumbling, "I mean, I _haven't_ but I thought...you know...I didn't think it was like fighting?" she shifted her body around trying to deal with how uncomfortable this all was.

"Only if it's _boring_ " Yang said mischievously, and then popped back out of bed and back into her chair, "So you and Son are into the _rough stuff_ eh? Come on then! Give us all the juicy details!"

"I don't know if…" Ruby began, but Blake mercifully cut her off.

" _No_...no it's not Son. I haven't been with him in a while. Besides if it were Son, there'd be no need." Blake sighed again, "Alright look...if you really need me to explain this I will. These ears of mine aren't just cosmetic...I'm as close to a cat as I am to a human. And all faunus have certain animal instincts..."

"That's why you used to hunt each other…" Weiss added in distantly, as if the pieces were starting to fall into place.

Blake nodded, "But that was a long time ago. Most of the time, it's not a big deal. We're every bit as intelligent as humans so we're just as able to control our instincts, but in certain cases…." Blake took a breath and started over, "When I was with Son, it was easy. Cats and monkeys aren't natural enemies so our relationship was almost the same as two humans. But not all faunus couples are as lucky as we were, and with Basil...he and I are as unlucky as Son and I were lucky…"

Ruby's eyes went wide and her nervousness caused her to ramble without thinking, "Is he a dog? Does he chase you around?" her hand shot up to cover her mouth, "Oh my god did he catch you?"

Blake raised a hand and laughed in spite of herself. There were days - there were many days when a younger Blake would have torn into someone like Ruby for her ignorance. Back then she wouldn't have been able to see a human as innocent. It was in that moment that she realized how valuable her time at Beacon had really been for her as a _person_ and not just a _fighter_.

"No...He's not a _cannus_. Let me finish. When a predator and their natural prey fall in love, they have to fight their instincts the entire way. For a long time none of us were really sure how to do it and these pairings ended in tragedy. Slowly, as the few brave couples still willing to take the risk looked for solutions, they figured out what had to be done. It...started with restraints. "

"Oh ho ho!" Yang clapped her hands and rubbed them together, "Now we're getting to the good stuff!"

Ruby looked at her sister as if she didn't know the girl, but Blake simply ignored her, "Most of the time if a faunus killed her lover it was in the throws of passion - and they often followed their beloved in death. So couples started to restrain the predator of the pair to keep that from happening. That helped but...in some ways it made things worse. Sometimes the prey of the couple would be so frightened by their lovers outbursts that they'd leave them. Today though...we have a way of helping the predator stay in check while making sure the prey isn't so afraid…"

"Violence" Weiss had been staring off into space as if to give the dignified pretense of not listening to the conversation, but she'd clearly been following every word.

"Basil is what you humans would call a _mouse-breed_ " Blake explained, "And I wouldn't call it _violence_ exactly. It's completely consensual."

Weiss whipped around, suddenly confrontational, "And what _would_ you call it exactly? Hmm? He's _beating_ you! How can you...I...I don't know how much more of this I can listen to!"

Weiss stood up as if to leave but just took a few steps across the room and put her back to everyone else.

"Oh come on, Weiss," Yang began, "It's just a little spanky-spanky, what's the big deal?"

"You're...oddly okay with this…" Ruby said, cautiously, "Do I even want to know?"

Yang shrugged and put a hand on her little sister's shoulder, "Look...Ruby...when you're ready to take a relationship to that level, nobody's gonna make you do something you don't want to do, but not everyone is into the whole roses and chocolate stuff. And even if that's you, you never know...one day you might get curious…"

"For a faunus though," Blake continued, "It's not like what you're describing, Yang. It's not for novelty or excitement. The pain, inflicted and accepted by people who love each other - it's deeply spiritual. I mean, on a physical level it helps me to focus. Every new shock to my system reminds me not only of the harm I could cause to someone I love, but of how afraid he is... of the sacrifices _he's_ making just to be with me. But that's only the beginning. It's...a connection that we share. When we first met, I was just saving him from some racist human muggers, but I knew from the first whiff of his scent that he was honest and kind and loving and I had to be with him…"

And after all the places where the conversation had gone, _this_ was where Blake Belladonna started to blush, "So after I chased away the muggers...I got down on my knees and presented my right cheek to him." Blake shrugged and looked at the floor, "He knew what I was and what I was doing. Faunus know. He inched his way towards me - I mean there was always the chance I was just doing it to lure him into a false sense of security so I could kill him, but finally...he slapped me."

Blake smiled and touched her face, her eyes closed as her mind took her back to a fond memory.

Weiss wore a look of skeptical investigation, thoroughly smothering whatever her true feelings were. Yang and Ruby both worse masks of complete confusion.

"And...then what?" Ruby said finally.

"Oh, well then I let him slap my _left_ cheek. After that I bought him lunch. We've been going out ever since."

The silence in the room was deafening and eternal.

Another universe began, "Well..we _certainly_ have to meet him." Weiss tried to bring the tone of the conversation back to normality.

This time it was Blake's turn to sneer, "No...at least not yet. Right now you only have my word about how faunus relationships work. If you want to meet Basil, I want you guys to talk to Velvet and Dr Oobleck. Velvet dated what you would call a 'wolf-breed' and Dr Oobleck is a teacher so I'm hoping if you talk to them this will all sink in. Most of the time all you humans can see is an abusive relationship because you don't know what it _feels_ like to be a faunus."

Yang shrugged, "I don't know...I mean I think the whole things way too serious if you ask me, but I'm the last person to judge what people do between the sheets. You and Weiss should go though."

"What?" Weiss demanded as if on instinct, "Why me? Why would I have an interest in these…" she waved around an open palm with outstretched fingers as if to tell them to go away, " _practices_ "

Yang rolled back into bed and waved Weiss off, "Oh _please_ you've been begging for a spanking ever since you got to Beacon. You know you want to. And Ruby needs to be a little less freaked out about the whole thing or it's gonna keep bothering her.

The secret out and her friends at least nominally accepting of what she'd been doing, the need for sleep began to overwhelm young Blake, and she collapsed onto her bed. Ruby and Weiss looked at each other and wordlessly decided to let the matter drop for now.

* * *

In retrospect, it had been shockingly easy for Ruby to get Weiss to go with her. But when the two of them finally found themselves outside Dr Oobleck's office, they both hesitated. The two girls stared at the door for several minutes without saying anything to each other, until finally Velvet met them.

"Um...hi" Velvet caught them off guard, "You wanted to talk me me?"

Ruby nearly jumped out of her skin, which was an unusual reaction considering that Velvet had always been not only shy and kind, but was even picked on by some of the other students at Beacon. But according to Blake, Velvet had on at least occasion tied up her boyfriend and done... _things_...to him.

Was all of this "sex stuff" even worth how weird it all was?

"Oh. hi Velvet! Didn't see you there…" Ruby began trying to cover up her nervousness. Weiss on the other hand just stood their with a smug expression and her arms crossed. It wasn't a bad strategy really...trying to force the world to conform to _you_ instead of the other way around.

"Actually...we were hoping to talk to you _and_ Professor Oobleck." Ruby was cut off.

"DOCTOR Oobleck!" came the older faunus's voice from behind the door. Apparently they had exceptional hearing on top of everything else.

Velvet's furrowed brow made it obvious she was a little confused, but hopefully she'd trust them enough to play along until it made sense. And hopefully that trust would come without the need for chains and a riding crop. And suddenly Ruby found herself wondering about Vice Principal Goodwitch….

"Do-come-in-do-come-in," Doctor Oobleck said through the door,

The two human girls and one faunus made their way into Dr Oobleck's office. The place was filled with books in desperate need of shelving, but it appeared the doctor had preemptively made sufficient seating room. Ruby made sure to close the door and they three tried to make themselves comfortable.

"I-take-it-from-your-request-after-class-and-your-invitation-of-Ms-Scarlatina-that-this-has-something-to-do-with-an-inquisition-into-faunus-culture. Is-this-some-sort-of-team-building-exercise? A-fantastic-move-Ruby. As-team-leader-you're-to-be-commended!" Dr Oobleck ranted.

Ruby glanced at Velvet, who suddenly looked uncomfortable, and then turned back to Doctor Oobleck, "Actually...well...sort of? Blake said we should talk to you…"

"She's dating a mouse-breed." Weiss said flatly, "And we're...very confused."

Doctor Oobleck said nothing for a moment, and then shockingly, slowed his tone to normal human speed, "I see...somewhat irresponsible that she didn't tell me herself. Were you aware of this Ms Scarlatina?"

Velvet shook her head, and began to blush, though she no longer had that look of confusion.

"Hmm...very odd, very odd. Normally for these kinds of relationships to be successful, they have to occur in the open. Sunshine disinfects as they say. Did she say why she kept it a secret?"

"Uh...no," Ruby began, "but now that you mention it, I think she didn't want _us_ to find out maybe?"

"Of _course_ she didn't want us to find out!" Weiss snapped, "She's been coming home with bruises...scratch marks...last night she could barely walk straight! It's revolting!"

"It's not revolting!" Velvet shouted, while looking at her knees, "You don't...you don't understand. How could you?"

Doctor Oobleck nodded, "I see...and she explained to you the nature of faunus relationships between predator and prey subspecies, no doubt. Did you not believe her or did she recommend speaking to me herself?"

"Both." Weiss snapped again, "Look, I think I've made quite a bit of progress in adjusting my worldview since coming to this school, but if you're going to tell me that this sort of thing is _normal_ -"

"Oh no, I wouldn't use the term 'normal'. Not at all. In fact there are many faunus who vociferously condemn these kinds of relationships," Dr Oobleck interrupted her, "But they tend to be the old-fashioned types. Hard to blame them really. No one wants to see their children torn to pieces or to inevitably commit suicide after tearing apart the person they love most in the world with their own teeth and claws."

Ruby stared at Dr Oobleck, dumbfounded. Even Weiss's mask slipped a little.

"Now now, girls. No reason to fret. There hasn't been a case like that in almost a hundred years. In fact, as Velvet can tell you, an enormous amount of effort goes into ensuring that these relationship remain firmly in the bounds of safe, sane, and consensual. Though part of that is disclosure to the wider faunus community. Still even if it was a misstep, Blake herself was not the one put in danger by it. At least not directly."

"Um…" Ruby interjected, "I have a question." she turned to Velvet, "Blake said you dated a wolf-faunus, but...why would you want to be with someone that scares you?"

Velvet looked away at the walls, but finally looked back at Ruby, "We're not _animals_. We can control our instincts!"

"Now, now, Ms Scarlatina. There was nothing of malice in Ms Rose's question, and you can't condemn simple ignorance. Please answer the question."

Velvet took a deep breath, "It's...hard to put into words. Faunus are attracted to all the same qualities that humans are attracted to. It's just that sometimes you find those qualities in a person who was designed by nature to kill you. It's not their fault...and it's not your fault for being afraid, it's just...hard."

"So why aren't you still with wolf-boy? Did he slip his leash?" Weiss asked, derisively.

" _Ms Schnee_ , " Dr Oobleck interrupted, "I understand that this is difficult for you to accept, but you are you getting precipitously close to _actual_ racism. And that I will not tolerate."

Weiss half-rolled her eyes but stopped herself mid-gesture and looked at the ceiling. She unfolded her arms and said, "I'm...sorry."

Ruby laughed awkwardly and rubbed her neck, "Well at least we have the 'hard' part figured out...kinda like this conversation," she added the last bit somewhat under her breath.

"It was my fault," Velvet said, "Sesho did everything right, but no matter what we did...what he let me do to him, I just couldn't get over my fear." She balled her hands up into fists and pushed them out to her knees while her face twisted up in shame, her eyes closed.

"No matter how powerless I made him...I just couldn't get past it. No matter how I tested him, no matter how high the price I made him pay to be with me, it was never enough. So I ended things…for his sake more than mine." the tears began to well up in Velvets eyes.

"Interesting…" Dr Oobleck began softly, "You never told me that part. You know...there are those of the opinion that the prey's fear is the final arbiter. That he must have done something wrong, even if you didn't realize it."

Velvet's arms shot down to her side and her face ignited in a fury the likes of which Ruby and Weiss had never seen in her, "He didn't!" she shouted, "It was _me_. It was _my fault_."

Dr Oobleck took a sip of coffee, "Nevertheless, I could make a single call right now and he'd be arrested before nightfall. And from what you're telling me, perhaps I should."

Velvet jumped to her feet in shocked, "No. Don't you dare! I won't let you!"

Dr Oobleck set his coffee down and regarded her coolly, "And what precisely do you think you can do to stop me?"

In that moment, all of Velvet's anger and indignation and surprise melted into a singular focus, though Ruby couldn't quite tell what that was. At last until the Leporidae-faunus bolted out of the room, leaving the door wide open.

"If you wouldn't mind closing that, Ms Rose…." Dr Oobleck said, taking another sip of coffee.

Ruby got up and closed the door, her body operating entirely on automatic.

"Are you really going to report him?" she asked as she did so.

"Heavens no! Sesho is a model of faunus propriety. But this does demonstrate one of the reason these relationships must be conducted publicly. Fear is a difficult enemy, but only because it clouds your vision. For those who can see clearly, it's less of an issue. Velvet's fear of her paramour could not be dealt with by whips and blindfolds alone. She needed other means of being reminded of his vulnerability."

"You were manipulating her." Weiss said flatly, although Ruby didn't detect and of the disgust that had been in her voice throughout this conversation and the night before.

"Manipulation? Deception? Education? These things are not so different. The only hubris is in not knowing when you're out of your league."

Ruby and Weiss sat a moment in silence, until finally Ruby made a connection.

"She said she was testing him. Is that what it's all about? Making sure they won't turn on you?"

"That _is_ a small part yes." Dr Oobleck replied, "Often that's how it begins, though the connection goes much deeper over time. Now let me ask you a question, Ruby. From what I understand you've never been romantically entangled with another. When and if you do find someone to share your life with, do you only want them to accept your positive qualities, or is love not love if you cannot accept a person for their shortcomings and failures? Do you want your love to be someone who accepts your difficulty with social interaction? Or would you prefer they found that intolerable?"

Ruby's jaw flapped open. She'd never thought about romantic stuff, but this whole topic _had_ made her realize that _someday_ she did want to know what it was like to love someone. But the idea that someone might see her weaknesses as something to be cherished and valued...that kind of acceptance was beyond anything she'd ever thought about. It was the kind of thing that might inspire her don a blindfold and some chains...you know...if that's really what they _needed_.

Weiss stood up. Ruby had almost forgotten she was there, but now Ruby noticed that there was something sadder than usual on the heiress's face. Ruby promised herself she'd come back to that thought, although at this very moment she was too emotionally drained to do anything about it right now, whatever it was.

"Thank you, _Dr_ Oobleck," Weiss said, "This is all...still very complicated, but I believe you've helped me to gain the understanding necessary to be more tolerant in the future."

Dr Oobleck smiled, "Oh, my dear Weiss. Your journey is far from over, but never fear. As Headmaster Ozpin would say, some roads can be walked in both directions."

What...did _that_ mean?

* * *

Weiss had left Ruby immediately after the two had exited Dr Ooblecks office without exchanging so much as a goodbye. Well...Ruby may have said something. Weiss hadn't been listening. Now Weiss was stomping through the streets of Vale, and if looks could kill she would have slain thousands. Of course Weiss didn't realize she had taken on such an ill demeanor until she finally took notice of the people around her. They were giving her and even wider berth than usual.

Weiss took a moment to calm herself down. Why was she even angry? And what had Professor - or rather _Doctor_ Oobleck meant with that aphorism about a street being traveled in two directions? Was he saying that it was possible to return to the intolerant ways of her family? Unlikely that he would frame it in such a positive light if that were the case.

Despite her protestations to the contrary, Weiss knew more than a little on the topic of dominance. Her mother had given her books to read about Dominance Hierarchies and how to use people's natural deference towards those who were successful against them. She'd practiced dismissing people with a glance since she was seven years old. She knew exactly when to get offended and by what and how much. It was how you taught other people their place.

So when Blake had limped into the the room last night, it had been inconceivable to her that she might be enjoying what was being done to her. Weiss would never had told Blake, but part of the reason she respected the faunus was that she was a cat. An Apex Predator. Almost a Schnee. Enjoying being put into a servile position was what the weak were for and Blake was anything but weak.

And really the more Weiss thought about it, the more she realized that her entire life had been about being dominant. She fought the Grimm to prove herself dominant over them. Every enemy was a rung on the ladder of status to be stepped on. Surmounted. But was that all there was to life? And was that _really_ what she wanted?

It was at that moment she heard the familiar sound of Velvet Scarlatina, but she wasn't angry or afraid. She was giggling like a little girl. Weiss could scarcely get out of the way fast enough when Velvet rushed past her at full tilt, followed closely by a white haired faunus with wolf-like ears. So this was Sesho, huh? Weiss didn't get a good look at him, but she did note the look on his face was anything but predatory. He was happy. Everyone was happy but Weiss it seemed.

And no sooner had the two flirting fauna rounded the corner than Weiss took note of another happy couple. One she understood even less than Blake and this Basil-person.

Jaune and Pyrrha stepped out of a nearby mid-tier food establishment. Weiss didn't bother to remember anything about it other than the mediocre food and the less than stellar service. What else mattered? Of course not even that mattered at the moment. Weiss's confusion broke the scale when she laid her eyes on Pyrrha's new "necklace". It wasn't a necklace at all, in fact. Pyrrha was wearing a high-end, fairly expensive (for some people) _dog collar_. She should have been humiliated by the indignity, both of the collar and of being seen in Jaune's company, but there they both were laughing and smiling and...ugh kissing? This was too much.

"Eh hem…" Weiss cleared her throat when she had closed sufficient distance.

"Oh, uh hey Weiss…" Jaune said awkwardly - which was how he said everything.

Pyrrha smiled like the cat that ate the canary. She took Jaune's hand as if to claim him as her property, "Is there something we can help you with?" she added.

"I...have a personal issue I'd like to discuss. And it appears the two of you might have the expertise to help me with it." Weiss said, knowingly.

"Uh...the two of us?" Jaune said, totally without guile. How does a person like that even survive?

"Perhaps we should discuss this in private?" Weiss gave her best knowing look though it was lost on Jaune. Pyrrha on the other hand seemed to be being deliberately obtuse.

"Weiss, what is this about?" the celebrity athlete asked.

Weiss rolled her eyes, "Well as I said, it's a rather delicate topic, but if you really want to discuss it out in the public _on the street_ then I suppose I'll start by saying that I recognize the 'necklace' you're wearing. My mother bought one just like it...although she obviously didn't wear it _herself_."

Pyrrha's hand went to her collar, but Jaune folded like a pair before a straight-flush.

"Uh...Um...Oh dear…." Jaune muttered.

Pyrrha put her hand on Jaune's shoulder and reassured him, "You have nothing to be embarrassed about, Jaune." she turned to Weiss with a look in her eye Weiss had only seen used on the enemy, "I _asked_ Jaune to buy this for me. It was a birthday present."

Weiss made her frustration as clear as possible, "I'm not _judging_. I'm _asking_ for _help_ with something _private_."

Jaune and Pyrrha looked at each other. A few minutes later the three had found a secluded booth in the back of some other equally mediocre restaurant.

"So what's this all about, Weiss?" Jaune asked, innocently.

Weiss thrummed her fingers, brimming with barely contained rage. And the worst part was, she didn't know _why_. What was making her so angry?

"It's Blake," no, it wasn't but that was as good a place to start as any, "She's in this...relationship" the heiress threw up her hands but didn't have the forethought to make scare quotes, "And apparently there's this whole weird faunus thing where she's a cat and he's a mouse so she has to get tied up and slapped around to somehow keep her from eating him."

Pyrrha raised her glass of tea and said, "So?" before taking a sip.

Weiss glared at her, the rage still building, " _So_? Blegh, fine. Weird faunus stuff that I can't understand. Fine. I can accept that part. I just…"

"What is it, Weiss?" Jaune had the audacity to speak.

" _I just don't understand how she could accept being treated as an inferior!_ " Weiss shouted, very nearly at the top of her lungs.

Weiss took a moment to regain her composure, "I just...I mean if that's what it takes for them to be together then how is it even worth it?"

Pyrrha glared at Weiss. It may have been the first time Weiss had seen her colleague truly angry, "This coming from someone who's still _alone_?"

That caught Weiss off guard, but she maintained her poise, "I will find an equal eventually. The world's a big place. There has to be a man _somewhere_ that's worthy."

"There's not." Pyrrha said without skipping a beat.

"What?" Weiss yelped, more fear coming out in her voice than she even realized she felt.

"There's no such thing as a man who's worthy or unworthy. _We_ make them that way. You want to know why I'm wearing a dog collar in public? Why I asked him to put it on me in the first place? It's because I was tired of everyone assuming I was out of their league"

Jaune was starting to wilt again, but Pyrrha took his hand again and put it out on the table, as if to put their affection on display.

"So when my birthday came around, I asked Jaune to take me to a pet store. I asked him to buy me this collar, and then when we were in private, I asked him to put it on me. Then I got down on my knees and told him I loved him and begged him to give me a chance."

Jaune was looking away in much the same way Weiss had when Blake had started all this nonsense.

"What? You're ashamed of her now?" Weiss sneered at the little man.

Jaune slapped his free hand onto the table and glared at the heiress like a train barreling towards a damsel tied to a railroad track.

"Shut your mouth!" Jaune had become a different person to Weiss's eyes, in the blink of an eye, "Pyrrha is kind and fair and loving and _god_ how did I ever fall for you?"

"You just wanted to date a _Schnee_ , admit it!" Weiss deployed her last defense. Pointed index and everything.

Jaune stopped. Then he smiled. Then the bastard _laughed_.

He looked at Pyrrha and still smiling, "She knows I didn't know who a star athlete was when I saw her, but thinks I knew about some rich corporate family?"

Jaune turned back to Weiss. He was no longer folding. This time _he_ held the straight-flush and Weiss could see on his face that he knew it, "I just thought you were pretty."

Something cracked inside of Weiss. And the crack started to spread. Jaune stood up and left. Apparently he wasn't without a sense of dramatic timing. Pyrrha looked ready to follow him. Just then a horrible fear welled up inside of Weiss. If she didn't figure out what was wrong with her she might never be happy.

"Pyrrha wait!" Weiss was no longer trying to disguise her desperation.

"Please," the heiress continued, "I don't know why I'm like this. I'm angry and stubborn and _frustrated_ all the time, and I _don't know why_. Please just tell me something to make sense of all of this. Tell me why you'd lower yourself _so much_ just to be with _him_."

Pyrrha stood up, but leaned back down, her face a mask of emotions too mixed to be readable though she clearly took offense to that statement on Jaune's behalf, "Jaune is not the man you think he is. He's kind, honest, sincere, devoted, and devoid of _any_ ulterior motives. Any girl in Vale would be lucky to have him. So let me answer the question you _should_ have asked. By rejecting Jaune did you turn your nose up at what might have turned out to be the best thing to ever happen to you? And the answer, Weiss, is yes. Yes, you did."

Her illusions shattered, and she saw the awful truth.

Weiss cried for hours.

* * *

The rest of Pyrrha's afternoon was bliss itself, though with just a hint of bittersweet sadness. She had heard Weiss break down as she left, but there wasn't much she could do but let the heiress sit with that awareness. The truth was even _Jaune_ had had a hard time seeing her as someone who was attainable, and he'd only been dimly been aware of her accomplishments.

When she'd put that dog collar on, she'd done more than profess her love for Jaune. She'd torn open her heart and poured it out in front of him. She'd begged him to look past the veneer of her invincibility and see the desperate and lonely woman that she was. She'd told him about her life and how isolated she was. And she swore that if he loved in her return she would do anything he said, at any time, under any circumstances.

Jaune had been shocked to say the least. He'd never considered her an option, but he knew the sting of unrequited love quite well by then, so he promised to give her a chance. The only demand he'd really made of her at that point was to seriously slow down and start like a normal couple would. It had been the hardest thing anyone had ever asked her to do, but it had been worth it.

The two of them built a chemistry that their sparring matches had only hinted at. They'd gone to movies and had dinner together and just had fun. They'd gone dancing every Friday night. And to Pyrrha's shock, it had been a month before Jaune had made the decision to take her to his bed, and those last few days had been harrowing. She'd become terrified that Jaune had just been playing a role for her benefit, out of pity. It shouldn't have been a surprise that Jaune had been a virgin, though it was an unkind way to put that thought.

He hadn't been ready. And he certainly hadn't been ready for someone like Pyrrha to proclaim her abject servitude. In the weeks that followed their first night together, any doubt about the genuine nature of Jaune's feelings had been erased. Jaune was still getting accustomed to the idea of telling her what to do, sadly, but she had only promised obedience. She had never demanded that he make use of it. And she wouldn't. She couldn't. Ultimately, Pyrrha had what she wanted. She had someone who saw and loved her for who she really was, and not simply what she had done. The rest was just entertainment.

And it had taken her most of her life to find someone like Jaune. And that was after having had a basic idea of the problem from a very young age. Weiss was only learning now why she was so isolated. How long would it be before she could find someone? How long before she even dared to step off the pedestal she'd been set on?

But it was hard to concentrate on the negative at the moment. Jaune and Pyrrha had gotten another hotel room and had been frollicking on the bed for nearly an hour, still half-dressed. Pyrrha could have done without all the foreplay, but Jaune was a romantic to the last. Until the unexpected happened. Someone knocked on their door.

Pyrrha was quicker out of the bed, and took a look through the peephole.

It was Weiss? And she didn't look well at all, though that was no excuse for her to interrupt them.

Pyrrha opened the door and put her hand on her hip, while Jaune pulled the sheets over his boxers. The lithe femme fatale sported a black teddy and matching panties. Nothing truly exotic, but then Jaune said he preferred, "the classics". Still Pyrrha stood confident and unashamed, as if daring Weiss to say that there was anything wrong with what they were doing.

Weiss was not up for the challenge. She stared at the floor, some kind of long box in her hand. Her eyes were red and soaked in tears, and she spoke in hushed tones. Her voice was noticeably hoarse and shaky, "May I come in?"

It wasn't that Pyrrha had no sympathy for the lonely young girl, but she _had_ just earlier today expressed an utter contempt for the man she loved. If she wanted them to go _this_ far out of their way for her, she'd have to show a little more respect.

Pyrrha shrugged, "I don't know, Weiss. We're somewhat busy." she turned back to Jaune and spoke in that intentionally louder than necessary way people sometimes do, " _You said you wanted to try anal tonight, didn't you honey?_ "

Jaune grabbed the back of his head with both hands, " _Pyrrha!_ " He winced, loudly, "Ixnay on the Ooppay Ootshay!"

"Yes, sir." Pyrrha replied in a casual tone, as if she were merely responding to a military commander, then turned back to Weiss with a glance that challenged her to find fault.

Weiss didn't rise to the challenge. She kept her head bowed and her hands in front of her.

"Please." was all Weiss said.

Pyrrha watched as the man she loved demonstrated the kindness she had come to love him for.

"Weiss...I...okay, just lemme get dressed." he said.

Pyrrha could have closed the door, but she didn't want to make the poor girl endure even a hint of rejection if that wasn't what Jaune had intended. But she still felt the need to respect her lover's privacy and to test Weiss's resolve.

She pointed at the wall behind the former snow angel, "Turn around" it was delivered casually, but it was an order nonetheless.

Weiss obeyed without complaint.

A few minutes later, Weiss stood inside their hotel room, head still bowed, hands still clenching what was now obvious to Pyrrha as a box that had been gift wrapped.

"You don't want to put some clothes on, Pyrrha?" Jaune asked.

"It's not my preference, sir. But I will if you require." she replied.

"Pyrrha…" Jaune chided her, "do you have to do that 'sir' stuff in front of other people?"

"I'll stop if you require, sir. But I would very much prefer to continue...with your permission." she replied.

Pyrrha kept an eye on Weiss, but the highborn heiress simply maintained her posture.

Jaune stood up and approached Weiss, and Pyrrha flinched. It wasn't that she demanded sexual fidelity from Jaune. If the young man ever bothered to ask for it, she'd bring him a new girl every night, but Jaune had really cared for Weiss and not all that long ago. And she wasn't sure she could share his _heart_.

"Weiss...tell us what's wrong. Is there something we can do?"

Weiss took a moment, perhaps to collect herself but finally replied, "I don't know if there's any hope for me. I don't know...if I'll ever find love or be able to love. I don't know if I've ever seen what that looks like. I don't know if I'll ever be able to inspire trust in someone or trust them in return, but I…"

She choked up, but forced down her tears and kept going, "I may never have what you have but...I thought maybe the two of you might be willing to at least allow me to stand near it. To have a small part of what you have."

Jaune's face turn from concern to shock and finally - much to Pyrrha's relief - to anger.

Jaune turned his back on her, "This is so completely not fair! Do you have any idea how much I wanted to be with you? I had just barely gotten over you when Pyrrha told me she loved me. I did _everything_ I could to get your attention and _now_ you want...whatever it is that you're asking for?"

Jaune had been gesturing wildly despite having his back turned to Weiss, but Pyrrha could see the hurt on his face...the tears welling up. She would have thrown Weiss out on her ass, but so far the broken young princess had been completely genuine, and something in Pyrrha called out to the pain that Weiss was experiencing. She wanted to help her, but she wouldn't give up the man she loved to do it.

Weiss kept her gaze on the floor, "I was an idiot for rejecting you. I was a stuck up, pompous, self-important, frigid, incorrigible, nightmare of a spoiled brat. And you have every right to throw me out on my ass for my audacity to even come here and beg you for your scraps. But I don't have anything else. I have no options and nowhere else to go."

Weiss dropped to her knees, "Please don't send me away."

Jaune half-turned back around to look at Weiss. Pyrrha couldn't blame him from having some affection left for her. Weiss wasn't a bad person. Not really. And both of them knew what it was to be lonely.

Jaune sat back down on the bed. Pyrrha knew he still wasn't comfortable with grandiose displays of submission like this but it probably wasn't helping Weiss's state of mind that he couldn't quite look at her.

"Tell me something, Weiss." Pyrrha began, trying to give Jaune some time to collect his thoughts, "If you had it all to do over again, what would you do differently?"

Weiss, remaining on her knees, didn't hesitate. Apparently she'd already considered the question rather thoroughly, "Back when he hit on me in the locker room on our second day of class I should have pulled him inside my locker with me and done things to him that he's never even heard of. I should have recognized his feelings for what they were. I should have bowed down and kissed his feet."

Jaune was blushing. Pyrrha knew he was a natural egalitarian. It had never occurred to him to be embarrassed by a girl being a better fighter than he was, and he had absolutely no compunctions about a girl being his teacher. Submissiveness made him uncomfortable, but she also knew that this was exactly what Weiss needed. Assuming she was ready for it.

"And if we do let you stay? If we let you be small part of what we have?" Pyrrha kept her sympathy entirely to herself.

Weiss swallowed hard, "I'll do anything either of you say, at any time, under any circumstances."

She was ready. Pyrrha grabbed a fistful of Weiss's hair and dragged her across the room until her shoulders were between Jaune's knees. Then she pushed the slave's head down into a deeper bow until it was parallel to the floor, exposing the back of her neck.

"Pyrrha! What! I don't…" Jaune yelped and pulled back, but his knees against the bed prevented him from creating any distance.

"Give him the box!" Pyrrha snarled. She'd already figured out what was in it. It was obvious really.

Weiss's left hand came up and offered a neatly wrapped gift box, white with a royal blue ribbon, that might have contained a watch or a nice pen. It held neither. And there again, Jaune found himself holding another dog collar. Pyrrha noted, of course, that this one was not the expensive kind that rich people wasted on their pets like she wore. This one was cheap and plain.

"You... _want_ this?" said Jaune, perplexed.

"Yes, sir" Weiss replied in a near-whisper.

The young man looked up at Pyrrha, completely dumbfounded, "Why are _you_ doing this?" he asked her.

"Well to be completely candid with you, sir. I think Weiss is a stuck up bitch who needs to be taken down a peg. And I can't think of a better man for that job than you." it was only a small part of the truth, but it was what Weiss needed in the moment. She could share the rest with him later.

Pyrrha leaned down and kissed him without letting go of Weiss's hair.

When their lips parted, Jaune put the collar on Weiss who gasped in relief. She barely had time. Pyrrha pulled her out of her submissive bow, still by the hair, and tossed her face first onto the bed, though only her torso. Her ass was propped up in the air in an undignified position that she didn't deserve to avoid.

Weiss watched as Pyrrha opened a locked trunk on the opposite side of the room.

"Uh….Pyrrha...what are you doing?" Jaune asked.

"With your permission, sir. I'd like to introduce you to some toys that I'd been saving for later when you were more comfortable." Pyrrha responded.

Weiss stole a glance at the horrifying objects in Pyrrha's sexual armory. She began to tense up, but then she realized that Jaune Arc might well have been the very last person in the world who would ever harm her, and she let go of her fears and did what she was told.

Winter surrendered to Spring.

* * *

Two weeks later, Weiss Schnee slinked back to her dorm after another night out with Pyrrha and Jaune. They'd been painting the town red, at least when they weren't busy doing the same to Weiss's ass. She knew it would get back to her teammates eventually, but she wasn't about to speed up the process any more than was necessary. It's not that she was ashamed of what she'd been doing, she just didn't know how to talk about it.

It's just how Blake must have felt.

And a flick of a light brought her right back to where it had all started. Weiss stood precisely where Blake had, although in her defense it wasn't nearly as late. Still the highborn heiress found herself in front of a tribunal of her teammates. Of course this time it was Blake who wore the wry smile and Yang who looked horrified. Ruby just looked mildly confused, but not nearly as mistified as when this had happened to Blake.

"Oh what? I can't have a social life?" Weiss

Without a word or breaking eye contact, Yang lifted a remote control for their viewing terminal and unmuted the sound.

"And we're back with Vale's most _in_ eligible bachelor, Jaune Arc! The handsome young Beacon Academy student who's made headlines for apparently dating Weiss Schnee _and_ Pyrrha Nikos simultaneously. And no ladies and gentlemen, we don't mean behind their backs, we mean _simultaneously_. The three have been seen at nightclubs and restaurants all over the Beacon Academy area, and that's not to mention _this_ shot, taken by paparazzi cameramen."

The screen shifted to a picture of Jaune walking between the two of them into a movie premier, with a hand on each of their asses. It had been Pyrrha's idea actually. But as the news caster went on it became clear that almost everyone was mistified but impressed by Jaune's ability to apparently do the impossible _twice_. And yet it hadn't been him. Not really. He didn't beat down the walls they'd put up. Pyrrha's supposed walls only existed in other people's imaginations and her own had come crumbling down under the weight of her own loneliness. Hell he'd been a virgin six months ago! What had Jaune's father said? That women only look for confidence? Had Jaune's father known something her own mother hadn't?

And then it hit her, what Pyrrha had said there being no such thing as a worthy or unworthy man. She and Pyrrha had made Jaune into this. A man can _only_ worry about being confident because it takes a woman to add the rest. Though she wished he'd warned her that he was giving an interview, and she could only hope he knew how to handle the media.

"So tell me, Mr Arc, what it is about you that the two most desirable young ladies of your generation are willing to share you over?" The announcer leaned in.

"That's the wrong question, Paul." Jaune responded to the announcer, "And I'll tell you why. In the end it's Pyrrha and Weiss that matter. They're two incredibly unique and special young ladies that I care for and deeply respect. What we have is...complicated to explain, but it's no less beautiful than any other relationship. And no less sincere. I guess the only thing special about me is...how unfairly lucky I am to have been able to be so close to the both of them."

The interview went on, but Jaune handled the interviewer shockingly well. Weiss would later learn that no less than seven girls - some of them who worked at the station - had tried to slip Jaune their scroll-number on his way out of the station. Jaune was going to get rid of them, but Pyrrha stopped him. He _did_ have a birthday coming up after all.

Yang turned the screen off, but before anyone could say anything, Weiss's scroll began to ring.

Weiss took it out and presented it the group without answering it, "It's my mother. Why don't we just kill two birds with one stone here…" and she held out her scroll and turned the volume all the way up.

"I suppose you have a reason for this media fiasco, young lady?" the dry, almost bored sound of her mother's voice filled the room with dread - excepting Weiss herself, who had been free of the witches spell for nearly two weeks now.

"I wasn't aware I'd caused one until just now." Everything was fencing with mother. Chess. Move, counter-move. It was exhausting.

"Hilarious. But you're to put an end to this at once. If you do not, I have a fake toxicology report and three paid witnesses who are all willing to claim that Mr _Arc_ has had you strung out on a cocktail of mind-altering dust-drugs."

"And _I_ have _you_ on speaker-scroll." Weiss said, smiling.

The rest of team RWBY introduced themselves in chorus. Mrs Schnee growled, and Ruby jumped into Yang's arms.

Weiss took control over the conversation, "Let me make this perfectly clear mother. If you put Jaune in jail on some trumped up charge, the next 'media fiasco' will be Pyrrha and I standing naked on the steps of the police station wearing ball-gags and signs that say, 'Free Jaune Arc' and before you bother telling me your counter-play let me tell you that it won't matter. Because I want to be with him more than you want me not to be. And in the end you will lose."

Silence.

"Don't tell me you love this pathetic excuse for a man-child?" her mother shot back eventually.

She didn't. Being with Jaune and Pyrrha made her happy and it was the healthiest relationship of her life, but she didn't truly _love_ him. It turned out she couldn't be perfectly happy without control over image-management. But _someday_ she'd find a man of her own, and he'd let her control what he said and how he dressed and what he did in _public_ and she'd let him control what she said and what she wore and what she did _in private_. Even Steven. Just like Dr Oobleck had said.

"Being with Jaune makes me happy. If the conversation doesn't stop there then I already know you don't have my best interests at heart,"

Silence again. Weiss had never felt like she held all the cards with her mother before this moment. Hell she never felt like she held _any_ cards, but now she felt like the most powerful women in the world.

"There will be consequences," her mother replied. It would have meant something if she hadn't read the same books about making vague and ominous threats.

"No mother, these _are_ the consequences." Weiss said, and promptly hung up. Then, feeling light as a feather, she conjured a small sigil beneath her feet and jumped. But instead of being a leap, she merely seemed to float into her bunk.

Yang stared at her, "Just…. _one_ question. Who _are_ _you_?"

Weiss smiled, "I'm the least unhappy Schnee in the entire world."


	2. Bonus Footage 1

Jaune didn't know who to ask about his problem. He and Pyrrha had been dating for over a month now and as that time had gone on, he knew more and more each day that he really did love her. Should he just talked to Pyrrha about it? Is that what his mother would tell him to do? (Not that he would ever ask _her_ ) It seemed like the normal thing to do would be to talk to another guy or at least another friend of his. But he took all his other problems to Pyrrha. And he couldn't think of a single person besides her that he'd be willing to share his biggest secret with. So he waited until after one of their training sessions to pop the question.

"Pyrrha, um...I need some advice, " he said as he sheathed his sword. The rooftop where they trained had become a safe space for them.

"Of course, you know you can ask me anything." she said, serenely.

"I...oh god how do I do this?" Jaune faltered.

Then he noticed Pyrrha swallow hard and brace herself.

"What? Why are _you_ nervous?" he asked, almost reflexively.

"Shouldn't I be? You made it sound like you were delivering bad news…"

Jaune ruffled his brow and turned away to look at the cityscape, "What? No...I need your _help_. There...there's things besides fighting that I don't know about."

"I will never judge you, Jaune. I would have hoped you'd figured that out by now." came her voice from over his shoulder.

"I...know…" he dropped his head, "But sometimes I can't stop from judging myself. I'm not what I should be. I'm weak. You don't know what that's like…"

He felt her hand on his shoulder just before she slipped into view on his right, "Just say it, Jaune. However hard it is, I'll be there to help you."

He gazed into her eyes like he always imagined someday he would after finding the right girl. Long before meeting Pyrrha he'd dreamed of meeting the perfect girl and falling in love and living happily ever after.

"Oh Pyrrha. Ever since I've known you, you've been everything I've ever needed. You've been a friend, a teacher - you kept my secrets and you've protected my dignity. And I love you."

Pyrrha wrapped her arms around him, and he could hear her soft sobs coming from next to his ear. It almost made his petty needs feel trite by comparison.

"Thank you, Jaune. Thank you. And I love you too." she took his head in her hand and pulled him back to a few inches from his face. He could see the tears in her eyes, "See that wasn't so hard."

Jaune raised an index finger, "Uh..that wasn't the hard part."

Pyrrha dropped her hands and raised a curious eyebrow, "How could there be anything hard left after that?"

"I um..I don't know how to say this. Just promise me you won't tell anyone. I could live with people finding out I cheated to get into Beacon, but if anyone found out about this it would completely destroy me."

Pyrrha stood up a little straighter, "I'll die before I let you suffer like that. I'll keep all your secrets till my last breath."

Jaune looked at the ground. He couldn't ask for much better but it still didn't make this easy.

"I'm a virgin."

There was a pause.

"Oh…" Pyrrha said, "Oh...I…" then she laughed, but it was a slight thing. Jaune expected it to erupt into a torrential flood, but it didn't.

"I'm such a fool," she said finally.

Jaune looked up at her. Pyrrha looked relieved. No it was more than that, she looked the way his Uncle Iroh had looked when the doctor told him they'd accidentally misdiagnosed him and that he didn't have cancer after all.

"Whaaat are you talking about?" Jaune asked.

Pyrrha looked at him and smiled. The relief on her face definitely showed she'd been worried for a while, "For the past few weeks I was really starting to worry. I thought maybe you'd been pretending to have feelings for me out of pity."

" _Pity_? You? Me? _How_? _Why_?" the words tried to jump out of Jaune's face all at once.

"I was worried by how long you've waited to take me to your bed. But there's no shame in not being ready. I can wait, I just...I didn't understand the reason until now."

Jaune hunched ever so slightly and scratched the back of his neck, "Yeah, uh...I...oh boy...I don't... _want_?...to be a virgin anymore?" he looked up at her, sheepishly.

Pyrrha nodded, "Easily remedied," and she reached behind her back to start undressing.

"Whoa whoa whoa, just like that?" he said, "Shouldn't I buy you some chocolates or roses or something? Play some classical music? I don't know...I just had all these ideas about how it's supposed to be…"

Pyrrha shook her head, "No. Jaune, I gave you my heart. My body and mind are simply extensions of that. If you want to take me to your bed then my only request is that it be exactly what you want it to be, and that you never hesitate to ask again."

"So...you're saying I could have asked before now?"

Pyrrha smiled, "From day one. I swore to do whatever you said, whenever, and under any circumstances. Obviously I didn't put any limits on that, but I was _certainly_ including sex."

Jaune's eyes went wide, "I...don't know how to deal with that. I mean I just went from not being able to get any for so long it's humiliating to whenever, wherever? It's not that I don't believe you it's just..."

Pyrrha went back to undressing, and this time she ignored Jaune's complaints. He never explicitly told her to stop.

"Tell me what you want." she said, standing in all her glory..

"Uh…" Jaune said, unable to maintain eye contact, "A bed?"

* * *

Basil Rathbone stood in line at the hardware store. Just three more customers and he'd have to talk to the cashier. It wasn't so bad. Perfunctory communication didn't trigger his anxieties nearly so much as undirected socialization. Of course it was always possible that the cashier would try to engage him in some kind of social banter. That would get awkward quickly. How about that Game? Did you see the show with the thing? No, Basil didn't waste his time with the hollow pursuits of wider society. He required a higher degree of intellectual stimulation, although...he did sometimes wish he knew more about those pastimes. He didn't have a problem with people who enjoyed those things - though sadly too many people failed to see the distinction - and he often wished he would have something worth saying to them.

His mind had wandered off and someone behind him shoved him towards the counter. He scrambled forward without looking behind and began readying his payment. The cashier turned out to be a human and from the looks of her, she didn't care too much for his kind. Was it sad that that made him more comfortable? That he'd rather have a racist human here than a friendly member of his own species?

Basil walked out of the store, a few lien poorer and a few tools richer. Some part of him mocked himself for treating a casual trip to a hardware store as some kind of harrowing adventure. The self-directed ad-hominem continued in his mind at full volume to such an extent that even his finely honed sense for danger lost out. He turned down an alley to take a shortcut back to the old Industrial district to reach his warehouse and found himself facing three large humans of the criminal variety.

He set his bags down slowly, "I'll give you my money" and slowly he moved his hand behind his back to remove his wallet which he then tossed onto the ground next to the bags, just in case they wanted the tools too.

The tallest of the humans, a large, bald man with set of brass knuckles and dressed as a stereotype rubbed his right fist into his left palm.

"Good mouse. You made that nice and easy. I think you deserve a reward."

The beating was swift and brutal. The three humans descended on him as fast as a nightmare. Their first move was to knock him to the ground. The kicking and the stomping came next. It was hard to gauge how long that continued from the receiving end, but eventually the leader leaned down, grabbed Basil by the face and shoved his head into the nearby ally wall. The faunus saw stars but didn't pass out, which caused the leader to smile.

"Oh I _like_ _you_ , mouse. Here let's play a game." from his jacket pocket the leader withdrew a large, rectangular block of cheese and forced it half into Basil's mouth, though it barely fit.

"Any cheese hits the ground and you die." the leader said, almost mischievously, as if he were playing some sort of prank. Then he had his henchmen lift the faunus up by his ankles while he withdrew a knife. He was sliding the dull portion of the blade down Basil's leg towards his genitals when the end of a whip slithered out from nowhere and wrapped itself around the leader's knife arm at the wrist.

Basil couldn't see the fight in detail, but it didn't last long. The moment the henchmen dropped him, Basil scurried deeper into the alley, but something stopped him from running all the way home. Instead he slinked into a corner, held himself in the fetal position and shook. When he saw his rescuer however, he froze in a deeper sort of panic.

It was one of the Daughters of Selina as his mother had sometimes called them or a Goddess of Death as others of his faunus subspecies often said. As outmatched as he was by three human goons, a Goddess of Death was another order of problem entirely. She was orders of magnitude faster and stronger than his attackers and demonstrated it with the speed with which she dispatched them. He could only hope that she wouldn't find him tucked away here in the shadows.

The Goddess of Death chased the henchmen away in a matter of seconds, but took her time playing with the leader. When she was done with him, she pinned him against the wall and then carved the Mark of the White Fang onto his forehead. Then she dropped him to her feet.

"If the White Fang see a human with their mark, they kill them on site. I suggest you leave this city, and quickly."

And then nothing remained between the Death Goddess and Basil except a pair of plastic bags from a hardware store, his wallet, and a coincidental absence of light. His heart began to race as he desperately tried to control his breathing. And then the Daughter of Selina did something he would _never_ have expected. Without facing him directly, she dropped down to her knees and tossed her weapon aside.

Basil waited. His fear abated to the point where he could start shaking again. He struggled to engage his analytical mind to find a way out of this situation, though it was no easy task under the circumstances. His eyes drifted over her. She was beautiful as Death often could be. He allowed himself to enjoy her features for a moment but then his logical mind interrupted. His eyes shot back to her weapon. He recognized it. He'd designed many like it. She was a Huntress.

Basil berated himself for thinking she'd come to kill him, but the fear didn't go away. And yet she was still on her knees. It wasn't...she couldn't...she didn't want _him_ did she? It almost _certainly_ wasn't a trick. It was supremely unlikely that she was luring him out of the shadows to kill him, but it also seemed unlikely to be a genuine display because…

No, Basil realized, he was being biased by his fear. And probably his own excessive self-recrimination. With all the willpower he had left, Basil forced his body to move, step by step until he stood before the kneeling faunus. She made no move when he came out of the shadows. She said nothing, but when he was close she tilted her head and closed her eyes. It was a classic gesture. She was requesting he strike her. His fear didn't fade, but something else welled up inside of him. Basil didn't have a word for it. No-one had ever showed him such deference.

It took him a moment to work up to it, but he brought the back of his right hand across her right cheek. Basil started to breathe again as the terror began to drain from his body. The Goddess said nothing, though she nearly lost her balance. Had her aura been lowered? She turned her face again and offered the other cheek to him. He brought the back of his left hand across her left cheek. She accepted that strike as well. Without the use of her hands, the faunus rose from her kneeling position, and handed him his wallet, though when she picked up his bags she kept them.

"My name is Blake, " she spoke finally, "Have you had lunch yet?"

* * *

Jaune and Pyrrha had gotten another hotel room. The other members of team Juniper knew they were dating, but that still didn't leave them with very many places to be intimate. Jaune had insisted that they share the bill after the first time Pyrrha had paid for them to spend the night in one, although she seemed disappointed by that for some reason.

And they'd been having a _lot_ of sex. At first, Jaune didn't question his luck. Pyrrha just seemed ready to go any time he did, and on top of that she'd often ask him if he was thinking about sex _just in case_. If his eye strayed to a random pretty girl for even as second, she would remind him that she was available _right then and there_. Frankly it was starting to worry him.

Finally Jaune had decided to bring it up. He'd waited for a time when they'd both be comfortable. They'd had sex a few times and Pyrrha was curled up next to him and the air was filled with Jaune's new favorite smell. And after the awkward way he'd told her he loved her and asked her for sex the first time, he'd decided to spend some time carefully figuring out how to bring this up.

"I'll never leave you, Pyrrha." Jaune got it all out in one go.

Pyrrha held him tighter, but said nothing. She'd seemed so worried about it, he'd expected something more.

"I mean, I'm not gonna cheat on your or go behind your back. I'm in this for the long haul. You don't have to worry about me." Jaune reiterated.

Pyrrha looked up at him, "Jaune?"

Jaune exhaled, frustrated with himself. He'd put a lot of work into how to phrase all this just to keep from worrying her and it seemed to have been a wasted effort.

He shrugged, "I don't know. You've just seemed really worried. You've given me everything I've asked for and I've been grateful, but it's worrying me how overeager you're starting to get. The first time you caught me looking at another girl I was scared of how you'd react. You're a _lot_ stronger than me, but then you just pulled me into that stall in the ladies room and...well you know. But after that I started to worry about you and...I want you to know that I'll never hurt you that way. I owe you _way_ too much for that."

Pyrrha had been looking him in the eye for most of his monologue, patiently waiting for him to finish before kissing him deeply until he ran out of breath.

"Jaune…" she flipped onto her back and looked up at the ceiling, "...it's true that I've been worried, although I don't think I was aware of it before you pointed it out to me. It's not at all what you think though."

She turned to look back at him, "It doesn't worry me when you look at other women. I have no - " she stopped herself mid-sentence, seemed to change her mind about something and started again, "no _desire_ to prevent you from doing that. If I'm worried about anything it's that you might be hesitating to share your needs with me. I want to meet every need you have but...I suppose I haven't trusted you to tell me what those are."

Jaune looked up at the ceiling himself, "Is this the whole, 'do whatever I say' thing? Cause I have to be honest...I'm not 100% comfortable with that."

Pyrrha looked away sadly but said nothing. Jaune immediately regretted saying it, even if it was the truth.

"But maybe that's just because I don't understand it." he added quickly, "can you help me with that?"

Pyrrha took a deep breath and looked back and Jaune and nodded, "I suppose it all started when I was a child. I've been a prodigy at combat since I could walk. Success always pleased my father so I pushed myself to be better. But as I grew older, I noticed that some people hated me for my success. Others feared me. I had very few friends compared to other children my own age. When I entered combat school this only intensified…" she trailed off.

Jaune felt Pyrrha's body fill with tension all along his own beneath their sheets.

"There was one boy. His name was Matthew...I didn't know why he hated me, but he chose me as a dueling partner at every opportunity. And he always lost. I started to resent him, but then I noticed how hard he was training. He abandoned any social life he might have had and trained from the moment the facilities opened until the time they closed in the evening. He'd even skip academic classes to train with upper-classmen. It didn't help. In the end I was too much for him. He...attacked me after I'd beaten him in an official match. He was screaming and crying and I think he really meant to kill me."

"Pyrrha…" Jaune said, because he couldn't think of anything else.

She looked back up at him, "It's alright. He would never have been able to touch me. Eventually he was thrown out of Combat School and prevented from attending Beacon. But that was when I realized just how I appear in the minds of others. I was this...unstoppable force. That was why people avoided me. They feared me. You see...I didn't train nearly as hard as Matthew. People like Matthew had to struggle...to try twice as hard to be half as good."

Pyrrha looked away in shame, although Jaune couldn't see the connection between her words and her feelings. He decided to stay silent until he had something relevant to say.

Pyrrha continued, "I terrify people. Just by existing, I make others feel as if their lives have no meaning because they'll never be what I am. And I've been alone my whole life because of it. So a year or so before coming to Beacon I started trying to find ways to lower myself...to be less of a world-destroying god-monster in the eyes of my peers. I just...I couldn't bring myself to perform poorly at combat. I have too many principles to protect."

A terrible thought overtook Jaune and it slipped out before he could think better of it, "Is that why you're with me? To lower yourself?"

Pyrrha jumped up to a sitting position, the blanket falling down around her elbows. She made no moves to cover herself but took Jaune's head in her hands, "NO! No, nothing like that! I…"

She laid back down next to him with her head on his shoulder, "I need to become the instrument of someone else's will. Someone who will love me and use me for the good of others. Weiss seemed to want to be that person on the day of team selection, but I knew she wouldn't use me for the things I wished to be used for, so I declined. But _you_ Jaune, you are good and kind and you know what it means to struggle. You _deserve_ my service and I _long_ to give it to you."

Jaune looked at Pyrrha for a long moment. It was starting to make sense. It also hurt more than anything he could have imagined to know what she'd been through. Was this healthy though?

"Pyrrha...I think I understand but...I don't have the _right_ …" he trailed off.

"Who else can give you that right besides me?" she replied. "I know it seems unhealthy to people who don't understand it, but this is what I _need_ "

Jaune and Pyrrha endured the silence for several moments, "I want to give you what you need, Pyrrha. You deserve that. But _I_ need you to give me some more time to get used to it."

"Yes, sir" Pyrrha replied. It wasn't playful or comically over-sensualized. It had all of the casual formality to it of everything else that came out of Pyrrha's mouth. And if he really was honest with himself, he _did_ kinda like it.


	3. Chapter 2

Ruby Rose's body walked down the halls of Beacon, but her mind had flown a thousand miles away. Today was the day they'd meet Basil and, along with Dr Oobleck and Vice Principal Goodwitch, perform a safety inspection. If that had been the only bizarro thing going on, Ruby wouldn't have been struggling with it, but now with Weiss _and_ Pyrrha dating Jaune the whole school had gone bonkers, though some of it was nice.

Every since Jaune had appeared on the news, the boys all over Beacon had started opening doors for girls and pulling out chairs to let them sit. Some were even standing when a girl walked into or left the room! How had that happened? As if in answer, Ruby rounded the corner and heard Jaune talking to a group of guys two years his senior. She ducked back behind the corner and listened.

"I'm telling you there's not a secret!" Jaune said, firmly.

"Come on man, please! Give us _something_!" One of the older boys pleaded. Ruby couldn't see him from her hidden position perched around the corner.

"Look you guys are all here to become Huntsman, right? Is there any shortcut to that? Quick fixes? I'm sorry but there's not." Jaune replied with a shrug.

"Fine, fine we get it. But there has to be _something_ right? Like, with fighting how you shouldn't grip your sword too hard or remember to keep your guard up. Anything man, please!" the older boy begged.

Jaune sighed, "Alright, listen. Just be confident but respectful...and _genuine_."

Another boy chimed in, "Uh...how can I be confident and genuine at the same time? I...I'm not…" he trailed off.

Jaune scratched the back of his neck, "No, I...know the feeling…"

" _You_?" came the surprised response.

"Believe it or not, yeah! Look just be the best version of yourself that you can think of. Different girls want different things. And don't go for the first girl you think is pretty. Have standards but don't be a jerk about it. But mostly...figure yourself out first. I didn't know what to look for in a girl until I knew what _I personally_ needed in a girl. You're not all the same. No matter what the mean girls say."

Ruby's eyes went wide. This was _not_ how she imagined boys talking about girls in private. Some part of her had thought it was just an unending stream of, "And then I F'd _this_ bitch and then I F'd _that_ bitch and then…" just over and over again. And even if Jaune hadn't been like that before, she kinda figured that's the direction he'd end up in. Sure, in his interview on the news he'd seemed like a total gentlemen, but that was _on the news_. This was in private.

Ruby rounded the corner, "Jaune, hey!"

A round of knowing if subdued laughter came from the group of guys, and one of them elbowed Jaune, playfully. It would have made Ruby more than a little nervous if she hadn't stopped to listen to the conversation. She'd been avoiding Jaune altogether for the last couple weeks because she was worried about the same thing the older boys seemed to be hoping for: that she'd end up another notch on his bedpost and she wouldn't even know how it happened.

"Ruby, hi!" Jaune said, clearly desperate to get out of this situation, "Um, are you here about that thing we talked about? That thing we need to discuss in private?"

Seriously sometimes boys even _sound_ like apes. This was definitely one of those times, but Ruby decided not to let it bother her as Jaune received innumerable playful punches and the rustling of his hair. Hey, if Jaune was going to spend all his time telling boys to be nice and polite, then maybe letting his reputation grow wasn't such a bad idea.

"Oh..uh, yes. Maybe over lunch?" Ruby replied.

Jaune and Ruby sat across from each other at the same table where he'd sat with Pyrrha and Weiss about a month ago. He hung his head.

"I'm sorry about those guys, Ruby. I didn't mean to make it sound like that. I just _really_ needed to get out of there." Jaune started.

Ruby smiled, "It's okay. I was eavesdropping on you while you were talking to them. It was sweet."

Jaune looked up at her and raised an eyebrow, "You mean all that stuff I made up?"

Ruby sat up straight, "You mean...you didn't mean what you said about being the best version of yourself you can imagine?"

Jaune shook his head and made a tossing aside motion like Ruby was used to seeing Weiss do, "Not like _that_ , I mean…" he sighed, "I just thought it sounded good. I didn't have any answers for those guys and I didn't know why they thought I would!"

Ruby took a bite of her food and processed this for a second. She decided the best way to go with this one was honestly, "Well, I do. I mean...I don't know if you noticed but I've kinda been avoiding you recently."

Jaune looked her in the eyes, worried, "Yeah...I noticed. You probably thought I was living it large like some major pimp bad-boy. right?"

Ruby hunched, "Uh...more or less yeah. But it was more than that. I was afraid that...I don't know, that you'd just smile at me and then my panties would go flying off and the next thing I knew I'd be waking up in bed next to you, Weiss, and Pyrrha."

This time Jaune slumped, "Why does everyone think I've become some kind of sex god? I mean, I _know_ I'm dating two hot girls at the same time and I _know_ they're both pretty popular."

Ruby interrupted, " _And_ you put them both in dog collars, _and_ Weiss used to _hate_ you. I mean _really_ hate you. Now she's letting you grab her butt in public while people take _pictures_."

Jaune groaned at the top of his lungs, "Damnit! I wish I'd never let Pyrrha talk me into that stunt. It's all people talk about now."

That hadn't been his idea?

"I'm just saying, Jaune, it's not just people who don't know you. I'm your friend _and_ Weiss's friend _and_ I live with her, and even _I_ was starting to think you had a magic thingy." she pointed down at his crotch with her fork.

Jaune blushed. Ruby started to think that maybe there _was_ something magic about Jaune. It just wasn't bedroom related like most people were thinking.

" _But_ …" she rushed to add, "When I heard you talking to those other boys I realized you were still the same old Jaune. And maybe it's not so bad for them to look up to you."

Jaune shrugged, "I just wish they'd stop asking me questions I don't have the answers to."

There it was again. She had to ask this time.

"So...what exactly _did_ happen? I mean...if you're comfortable talking about it. Cause what you said back in the hallway _sounded_ pretty good."

Jaune shrugged and his face exploded into confusion as he threw up his hands in defeat, "I _still don't know!_ One minute Pyrrha and I were sparring in our favorite spot and the next she was telling me she loved me and asking me to put a collar on her! And I asked her to slow down and she did and then I realized I loved her back and it was great for a while and then Weiss showed up and insulted me and then later she showed up crying and asking me to put a collar on _her_ too and I felt bad and it's all just gotten really confusing since then."

He hung his head and started gasping for breath. Even Dr Oobleck didn't talk _that_ fast.

"So what you're saying, is that this was _all_ Pyrrha and Weiss and that you just won the sex lottery?" Ruby asked finally.

"YES!" Jaune shouted.

Ruby's scroll beeped with a text-message from Blake. It was time to meet at Basil's place. She stood up to go, but decided to leave Jaune with one final thought.

"No...I don't think that's true, Jaune. I think Pyrrha saw something in you before any of the rest of us could see it. Maybe you're just having a hard time with it because you still think of yourself as vomit-boy."

Jaune let out an annoyed harrumph, "I _am_ still vomit-boy."

Ruby shook her head, "Nope." then she looked him over head to foot to head, "and maybe you never were."

* * *

Ruby glared at her scroll like it was lying to her. This _had_ to be the wrong, "Baker" street. Her scroll's directional systems had led her to the abandoned section of the old industrial district. It was nothing but empty factories and abandoned warehouses as far as the eye could see. Eventually Ruby found what her scroll said was the right warehouse - an old Schnee Dust Company manufacturing facility.

Apparently Basil lived here? The property certainly _was_ more kept up than the surrounding desolation. Ruby tried not to let herself make any decisions about Basil being creepy before meeting him, but this place wasn't making it any easier. She knocked on the warehouse door.

Blake answered the door and smiled, "Ruby!" the faunus pulled her into her arms hugged her as if she hadn't seen her in years. Blake looked much like she usually did only she was wearing a one of those choker necklaces - bah who was Ruby fooling? It was a collar. If this kept up it was going to become some kind of weird fashion trend all over Beacon.

"You're the first one here!" Blake certainly seemed excited, especially considering how subdued she normally was.

Blake led Ruby into what looked like it had probably been a conference room for executives. There were snacks and drinks laid out, even Ruby's favorite cookies.

And there was also a male-faunus with rounded ears sitting in the corner. He had the saddest green eyes Ruby had ever seen. His hair was black like Blake's, but it was cut short, and he was shockingly well dressed. He would have fit in at the school dance without having to change. The faunus stood when Ruby entered the room but didn't look directly at her. Instead he grabbed his left upper-arm with his right hand and started rubbing it. Blake practically pulled Ruby up to him.

"Ruby, this is Basil, " Blake said with an enormous smile on her face. "Basil, this is Ruby."

Basil strained to look at Ruby and smile. He held and hand out, "Ms Rose."

Ruby shook it. He was shaking, "Just Ruby. I'm glad to meet you, Basil. You've made Blake very happy."

Ruby released his hand and he looked away from her again, but this time he smiled, "Not as happy as she's made me. I assure you." and then he winced for some reason Ruby couldn't guess at. Blake wrapped her arm around his and held him close. It was at this point Ruby noticed that Blake was half a head taller than Basil, and he couldn't have been more than a few years older.

Ruby tried to take some of the pressure off the poor guy, "So Blake, are Weiss and Yang coming?"

Blake nodded, "Weiss is. Yang said she couldn't make it. She didn't seem to take issue with any of this at first, but she's become more withdrawn, as if she doesn't want to acknowledge that this is happening."

Ruby shrugged, "Yang's been annoyed lately. Jaune's been teaching the boys at school to be more old-fashioned and I think it's got her kinda grumpy."

Blake refocused on Ruby, "That...explains a lot."

Another knock sent Blake scurrying out of the room giggling, leaving Basil and Ruby alone momentarily. Basil seemed to wilt but then rushed to fill the silence, "Uh...so Ruby, might uh...might I get you a drink?"

She shrugged, "Sure."

Normally it was Ruby who had trouble with social situations, but this was something else altogether. She tried to decide what she would want someone else to do for her in this situation. Do all the talking? Hmm what was that Jaune had said about being genuine? Being the best version of yourself? What would the _best_ Ruby do?

"It's okay, you know. I don't think you're hurting Blake or anything. I mean I can't say I get it _completely_ but it's like I said. She's happy, and I know that's because of you."

Basil had tensed up when she had started talking, but by the end he had stopped shaking entirely. He closed his eyes and nodded to her as if to say _thank you_. He handed her a glass full of her favorite soda, and the best Ruby didn't push him to talk. Some instinct told her not to. There was something...familiar about him. So she endured the silence with him until Blake returned with Weiss.

"Hello ladies!" Weiss said cordially, before turning to Basil directly, "Mr Rathbone" she said to him, nodding and curtsying slightly.

Ruby's eyes went wide. All things considered, Weiss Schnee had not been acting all that strangely in the last two weeks since she'd been openly dating Jaune alongside Pyrrha. She'd even exchanged her ratty dog collar for a...nicer dog collar. Ruby _had_ noticed differences in her behavior, even before she'd discovered what was going on. But those had all been subtle and overwhelmingly positive. She wasn't crabby or bossy or condescending anymore, and she seemed even happier than Blake, which was amazing when she thought about it.

And maybe it was all this weird whips-and-chains stuff that had gotten her mind thinking in this direction, but for Weiss to show that kind of deference to a guy she'd never met before seemed _way_ out of character. For a brief moment it made her want to know a little more about what was going on with those three behind closed doors. But she really _really_ didn't.

Basil blushed slightly, but Ruby noticed he didn't look nearly as nervous about Weiss as he had about by her, which was _also_ bizarre when she thought about it.

He nodded to her, "Hello, Ms Schnee"

She turned her head and bowed it every so slightly, "Or Weiss, if you prefer." it was all so _casual_ even while it was formal.

He hunched but smiled, looking her in the eye he said, "'Weiss' it is then."

"Oh!" Ruby interjected, "Did you see Dr Oobleck or the Vice Principal on your way?"

Basil's whole body shook at the sound of her voice, but then he replied, "Uh...no, they'll be another half-hour or hour at least. It's common custom for the Judges to give the couple's friends some time to get to know one another before the whole affair becomes rather more formal."

Weiss placed a hand on a nearby chair, smiling at Basil, "May we sit?" she asked sincerely.

Basil smiled and stood a little taller, "Of course."

Ruby looked to Blake to see _her_ reaction to Weiss's behavior, but the faunus seemed not to notice, so Ruby fell back on the perennial girl's-plan-B.

"Actually, Blake. Can you show me where the bathroom is?" Ruby asked.

When the two of them were out of what she hoped was earshot for a faunus, Ruby let down her pretense, "Okay, so I need to know...is Weiss bothering you or should I be doing all that extra-polite stuff too?"

Blake raised an eyebrow, "Weiss isn't bothering me by being submissive to Basil if that's what you mean. Clearly her relationship with Pyrrha and Jaune has gone to places I hadn't considered, but I highly doubt she's trying to steal him away from me."

Ruby winced. Blake hadn't answered the other half of the question, "So...should I?...cause I don't know anything about this stuff…"

Blake smiled and put a hand on Ruby's shoulder, "The point of this exercise is for everyone to meet in the middle. You don't need to do anything that would make you uncomfortable."

Ruby's shoulders went from hunched to slumped, "Yeah but I don't want to make _him_ uncomfortable and he nearly ran out of the room when I showed up!"

Blake shrugged, " _He's_ trying. _You're_ trying. That's what's important. But...if you want, I could maybe think of something…"

When the two of them returned, Basil looked more relaxed than ever. He was leaning back in his chair, arms and legs akimbo while Weiss was leaning in. Weiss's gesture did more than project herself into the conversation. She was also subtly lowering her height and looking up at him, smiling the whole time. Aside from her face it was almost a pleading gesture. Weiss said something Ruby couldn't make out and the two of them shared a laughed.

Ruby reentered the room with Blake following right behind and Basil immediately sat up straight, tension returning to his body. Ruby winced but tried not to show it.

"So uh...great bathroom!" Ruby said, reaching for something nice to say that would bring her back into the conversation. She found a seat and belatedly wondered if she should have asked permission.

Basil relaxed a tad and smiled. It hadn't been on purpose, but something about saying something stupid and embarrassing herself had helped Basil relax. Ruby only wished she could do it on purpose.

Weiss jumped in to the rescue, "I was just telling Mr. Rathbone about what an excellent job he's done with this old warehouse. Most of the former Schnee manufacturing facilities have fallen into an unsightly state and been infested with rodents or criminals. I'm glad to see this site is _nothing_ like that."

Ruby wanted to ask a question, but every time she spoke Basil looked like he'd heard a gunshot go off right behind him. She stopped herself from speaking up and instinctively found herself raising her hand like she was in grade school, though she awkwardly aborted mid-gesture.

"Um…" she at least saved herself the indignity of waiting to be called on, "I wanted to...I mean, can I ask what you do? Blake said you don't attend any combat schools."

Basil looked relieved, "Oh yes, I um...I've reclaimed much of the equipment left behind by the Schnee Dust Company, but I use it to forge weapons and armor. And...I also have an herb garden, but...If you could keep that to yourselves, I would appreciate it. I'd rather it not be reported to the authorities."

Weiss's perpetual wry smile only sharpened, "Oh really? What kind of herbs are we talking about?"

It was the first time that Ruby had seen Basil look away from Weiss, but rather than staring at the ground he turned to look at Blake, "The kind that calm me down."

Blake interjected, "Basil, on way to the bathroom we passed the foyer. I know it's early but Ruby was hoping you might be willing to give her a little preview." Blake reached behind her back and took out a velvet sleep mask.

Basil smiled, "Always a good place to begin."

Blake handed the mask to Basil and nodded slightly in Ruby's direction. Basil took it and looked at Ruby inquisitively, "If I may."

Blake had prepared her for this on the way back, "Please do." Ruby said awkwardly.

Basil didn't make a single move forward, but instead looked at Blake, "I'm not sure this feels appropriate." he turned back to Ruby, "I appreciate your efforts but I cannot agree to put you in a situation you're not comfortable with."

Something inside Ruby relaxed that she hadn't known was tense, "I..I mean…" Ruby's sentenced collapsed into uncertainty.

Ruby looked away from Basil, but continued. Blake had told her to be honest, "I don't want to do that to you _either_. I can wear it." she offered.

When she finally looked back at Basil his face he seemed softer somehow. Not frightened but...grateful maybe? He locked eyes with her.

"Ms Rose, that means the world to me." he responded, but still made no move to leave his seat. Something in the back of Ruby's mind wondered if that had gone just the way Blake had planned it.

Weiss's hand shot up like a know-it-all teacher's pet, "I'll go."

The heiresses eyes darted back and forth briefly between Blake and Basil, "Um...Please?"

Basil looked to Blake with a raised eyebrow. She nodded in return. The male-faunus stood up, approached Weiss and then delicately and meticulously adjusted her hair before sliding the velvet mask into place. Weiss gasped ever-so-slightly.

"This one is so much nicer than Pyrrha's" she purred.

Basil smiled, "I do prefer quality in my work."

Gingerly, Basil moved away from Weiss and returned to his seat. It wasn't fear, Ruby thought to herself. Was that respect?

Weiss continued on as if she wasn't even aware of the blindfold as the three engaged in idle small talk. Basil, it turned out, was a master craftsman. He'd made numerous weapons that were housed in Beacon, Signal, and almost every other local institution that _had_ weapons. Ruby was even relatively sure she'd studied a few of his prototypes back when her beloved scythe, Crescent Rose, was just figment of her imagination. Eventually the topic turned to his home.

"So how did you land _this_ place?" Ruby asked innocently, and the entire room went silent.

Ruby nearly crumbled under the frustration and sadness of having hit another landmine, but a soft look from Basil caught her attention.

"No…" he pleaded with her, "please, I...I'm sorry. It's not your fault at all. I…"

His eyes shot towards Weiss, "I'd simply prefer to discuss that at another time."

Weiss lowered her head and raised a hand slightly, since she had no way of knowing if she was about to interrupt someone, "No it's okay."she said, somberly, "I knew before I walked in the door."

Weiss turned in roughly Ruby's direction, "Most of the time, these facilities entered faunus hands during out of court settlements. The fact that he owns it means my family did something awful to his family. We're...essentially surrounded by blood money. And...Mr Rathbone, I know there's probably nothing I can do…"

" _Ms Schnee_ ," Basil interrupted forcefully, " _You_ are an absolute _joy_ to be in the presence of. Your respect of my frailties and your subtle acknowledgements that I am other than an animal have not gone unnoticed," his tone shifted and became softer, "and it is vitally important to me that you know that I hold you no animus for your family's actions."

Weiss smiled sadly and tugged the velvet mask back and forth away from her face fanning air up into her eyes.

"Neither of us do," Blake added.

The dam broke and Weiss pulled the mask off before the tears would stain the expensive mask. She kept her eyes closed however. Blake made a move to stand but Basil put a hand out. Then _he_ stood and approached Weiss. He took her head and pulled it gently to his chest and held her, head-and-shoulders in a chaste embrace. Weiss held him back. Ruby found her own tears in the process, but Blake just smiled.

The moment passed in silence, but eventually began its slow but inexorable slide from intimacy to awkwardness. Eventually Basil leaned his head towards Weiss's ear and whispered as he released her.

"Open" he said, and her eyes obeyed.

Basil walked towards the door of the former conference room and turned back like he was making an announcement.

"Actually, if you ladies will join me, there is another pastime of mine I would share with you."

He didn't wait for a response, but Blake hurried to follow. Ruby and Weiss weren't far behind either. Basil lead them out of the executive area, through a sea of abandoned cubicles and back to the manufacturing section which took up more than three quarters the building. And quite to Ruby's surprise, the manufacturing section buzzed with activity. Humanoid and semi-humanoid robots moved about all over the space which was dozens of yards high and hundreds of thousands of square feet. Multicolored tape still marked the floor to demonstrate where absent dumpsters and materials were to be kept.

"Most of what's being done here," Basil began, "are custom jobs for the military, although I recently received a request from Headmaster Ozpin for a weapon to be used as a sample to help teach Advanced Artificial Aura Manipulation. There's nothing here that can't wait, however."

Basil raised his right hand and snapped his fingers and everything in the warehouse shutdown.

Weiss leaned over to Blake and whispered, "I bet that's not all he can do by snapping his fingers."

"You're not wrong," she inclined her head and whispered back.

Ruby had no idea what they were talking about so she leaned in and asked Blake, "What _else_ can he do?"

Blake looked back at the leader of her team and, without the slightest irony in her voice said, "Make my clothes come off."

Right...of course. How had she missed that one?

Basil appeared oblivious to the exchange, though Ruby wasn't sure how he could have missed it at that distance. Finally in the middle of the warehouse, he led them up a metal staircase to a platform with numerous glowing control panels. From here Ruby could see the entire complex, with the exception of the office space in the front. Basil opened a leather case and withdrew an old wooden violin and bow.

"Sometimes when I'm having difficulty with a particular weapon design, I shut the whole plant down like this and come up here. As you'll see, the acoustics are brilliant. Ms Schnee, this is for you…"

Basil made the violin cry tears of sadness and joy. The sound spread through the open building, echoing back through reverberations in the metallic structure. No longer surrounded by blood-money, the four were now swimming in the magnificent outpouring of Basil's heart. Time lost its meaning and for a brief moment, Ruby, Weiss and even Blake ceased to be.

But everything beautiful eventually dies and Basil's song was no exception. So he played three more, one for Ruby and two for Blake. Each one made Ruby feel as if the entire building were really the broken heart of a mourning god, though the one he played for her seemed strangely familiar even though she knew she'd never heard it. When the impromptu mini-symphony finally ended, Ruby stared at Basil in awe. Sure becoming a Huntress was a big deal and hardly anyone got to do it. Sure Ruby had managed to do it two years earlier than anyone else had in years. And sure, Basil apparently had no facility for combat. But in the end, terms like, "genius" don't belong to the moderately clever or the exceptionally talented. They belong to the gods who masquerade as men - the broken-winged angels who'd fallen to earth. If Basil had been as good at fighting as he was at everything else he would have put Pyrrha to shame.

Actually, Ruby thought, if Basil _had_ been that good, there would have been no need for _her_. Or Weiss or Yang or Blake for that matter. Him having a weakness or two turned out to be something of a comfort. Ruby thought about how Basil had been not even an hour ago when they'd first met. And yet he had such beauty inside of him! And creativity and intelligence and...suddenly his social disability just made him seem more relatable. Is that what had happened when Ruby had accidentally humiliated herself once or twice? Basil had responded to those occasions not with scorn, but relief. But what was there about her that made her so intimidating? It couldn't just have been the fact that she was a girl…could it?

When his final song ended the silence lasted a little longer than normal. None of the girls wanted to talk after his performance and end up sounding like a groaning toad by comparison. Coincidence saved them the indignity as a number of dogs began to howl and bark.

"Ugh, my apologies, ladies. It appears that when I shutdown the plant I interrupted feeding time. "

Basil raised his right hand and made two snaps back to back bringing the plant back to life.

"Feeding time?" Ruby asked.

Blake turned to her, "Basil takes in abused and abandoned animals and re-socializes them here in the unused portions of the plant. He's halfway to having his own animal hospital."

Ruby turned back to Basil, "How do you have time for all of this?"

Basil smiled weakly, "Well...copious amounts of robotic labor doesn't hurt. But the real secret to my productivity you'll realize only later. But no more about that. Cute puppies await."

Basil lead them back down the stairs, down what may have been a hallway at one time based on the floor tape, and into large enclosure of three walls of old-fashioned chain-link fence. The warehouse's outer wall doubled as the enclosures fourth wall and had large automatic doors for when the animals wanted fresh air. Some, though apparently not all, of the dogs, cats, and handful of other random animals were house-trained. Ruby saw what appeared to be a robot dedicated to the soul purpose of cleaning up animal droppings, disinfecting the area and spraying some kind of air freshener. Basil led the girls to a gate but turned around before opening it.

"Before we go inside, I must ask you to keep in mind that these are not the kinds of animals you may be used to. Each of them has suffered terrible abuse or hideous neglect. Most have returned to the proximity of pro-social animal behavior, but pay close attention to their demeanor. And if they seem to want space, give it to them immediately. Most of all be sure to appear non-threatening."

An hour ago, Ruby wouldn't have worried about that last instruction. She took it a lot more seriously now. Basil handed out surprisingly heavy bags of animal treats to each of the girls and reminded them to be liberal with them. The animals, dogs mostly, soaked up the attention like a sponge. In fact, Ruby might not have realized these poor creatures had ever been abused, though knowing that going in put their desire for affection and attention in a new light. And for the rest of her life, whenever Ruby met an animal with a strong desire for affection, she silently worried about how it had been treated.

"Oh, um..Ms-erm, Ruby.." Basil interrupted her thoughts.

Ruby looked back at him, but didn't say anything.

"These animals aren't trained in the performance of 'tricks' and...it's probably best for their state of mind that you don't try to make them perform."

Ruby looked down at the dog she'd been playing with. Her thoughts had strayed and she'd fallen back on old habits with her father's dog, Zwei. She'd been trying to get this dog to jump up snatch the treat from her hand and it had been whimpering. She tossed the treat down to him - or her. Ruby suddenly noticed she was past the point of getting frustrated with herself for making mistakes. Basil was a nice guy. If he told her she was doing something wrong, she didn't haven't to feel bad about it. She could just do whatever he said and it actually wouldn't be that bad.

She tossed the dog the treat without comment or apology, and then went back to petting him.

Basil approached the dog from the side, staying within its line of site. He squatted down next to Ruby and showered the dog with affection.

"This is Toby. When I found him he'd been chained up and abandoned for who knows how long. He was emaciated and losing fur. It took some effort to win his trust, but I'd past the precocious amatuer stage and actually done my research by the time I met him. Animal rescuers often refer to a strategy called Reverse-Dominance whereby the animal is provided with everything it might want or need in absolute abundance and not made to work for attention or sustenance. It's worked wonders for him."

Wasn't Submissiveness the opposite of Dominance? Blake had said several times in the last few weeks that there was nothing pathological about what she and Basil had been doing. She'd been emphatic about how damaged childhoods or psychological wounds were not what made them engage in their _activities_ any more than her own mother dying made her attracted to men instead of women.

And yet it had taken until this very moment for Ruby to realize that her mother dying hadn't _prevented_ her from liking men either. Other people like Basil - _Dominants_ as Blake had called them, might share very little in common with him and some might share a lot. Basil was a Dominant and by coincidence, he had also suffered a great deal of trauma. Well gee golly, it was almost like he was a unique individual!

And maybe being a Dominant had made him _more_ susceptible to the abuses he'd suffered. Or maybe not? Ruby didn't know. One thing became clear though. Basil the _individual_ shared a lot in common with the abused animals he'd taken in, and not because he was a faunus. Blake's...submission to his desires seemed to Ruby to be almost identical to the Reverse-Dominance strategy for abused animals. Hadn't Blake just said that she'd jump into to bed with him at the snap of his fingers? And he'd slapped her twice in the face on the first day they met, though she still wasn't sure what that was about.

Ruby didn't have all the pieces put together just yet, but the picture slowly started to come into focus. Basil needed to know he wasn't going to be hurt. He needed to know he wasn't going to be neglected and alone.

Because Blake was a cat-breed and Basil was a mouse-breed?

Elegant piano music started playing from Basil's scroll and he checked to see what the alert had been for.

"Ahh, the Judges are here! We should head back to the front." Basil said.

"Wait, " Ruby said, with a sudden realization, "aren't they supposed to wait until _your_ friends get here?"

Basil wagged a playful finger at Ruby but his smile did little to cover his sadness, "You see there, Ms Rose? I _told_ you, you'd figure out the secret of my productivity." And he started back for the office portion of the warehouse without waiting to see if the girls would follow.

Ruby found herself entirely unable to move. He had _no one_? Obviously he couldn't make military contracts or rescue abused animals without talking to people, but he didn't have a single person close enough to invite to something as important as this? Just business associates? No family? No friends at all? Even without any real chemistry between them, Ruby could suddenly see herself falling into bed with him. It would probably be a huge mistake and all go horribly wrong and she'd be throwing her virginity away on someone she didn't really love and wasn't _especially_ attracted to - but she could see herself doing it anyway. And if there _had_ been chemistry? If she'd been more experienced with sex and relationships and _was_ really attracted to him? Suddenly the idea of Blake in a blindfold and chains didn't seem so strange.

Up ahead, Basil made two clicking sounds with his tongue. The kind you make to call a pet. In response, Blake rushed up to his side, and together the two faunus led their human friends back to the front door, where Dr Oobleck and Vice Principal Goodwitch stood. Basil had opened the door but they were still outside. Ruby noticed Weiss dry her eyes with a white handkerchief and then secret it away.

"Dr Oobleck," Basil nodded to him, "Mistress Goodwitch." Basil nodded to her next, "Welcome to my home."

The two still did not enter, but the Vice Principal responded, "It is our honor and duty to protect what the two of you have created. If you have any last minute preparations you need to make, you are welcome to attend to them. We will wait."

Basil waved them in, "We're prepared. Welcome to my home."

Dr Oobleck and Vice Principal Goodwitch nodded and stepped over the threshold though not in that order.

"Have you explained the formalities to Weiss and Ruby?" Goodwitch asked.

"Not yet. Our Gathering was quite productive so we didn't have time. We can begin immediately however."

After a momentary pause in which no one argued, Basil turned to address both Ruby and Weiss, "The order of things is this: Blake and I will help you to understand the nature of our relationship and walk you through the precautions we both take to ensure our safety. Dr Oobleck and Mistress Goodwitch will operate mostly as observers, and will not participate unless they feel Blake and I have made a glaring error or significant omission. The two of _you_ however are free at any time to ask any questions or make any suggestions you feel appropriate. Do you understand?"

Weiss raised a hand, "I have one. _Mistress_ Goodwitch?" the young girl raised an eyebrow at the Vice Principal.

" _Weiss Schnee_ ," Goodwitch snapped at her, "This is neither the time nor the place. This ceremony is about _Blake_ and _Basil_ and you are insulting them with your irreverence."

" _Not in the slightest_ , " Basil came to her defense instantly, "The Gathered have no expectations placed on them to be aware of the protocols. And I should like to remind you to treat guests in my home with the respect they have _earned_. Let us proceed."

Goodwitch made no attempt to hide her shock but offered no complaint. She merely turned back towards Weiss, a surprised look on her face, and nodded.

Basil and Blake led the group through the abandoned office section of the warehouse and to a large open room, twelve feet high, nearly as wide and perhaps twenty feet deep. The black walls were covered in spools of rope, chains, velvet blindfolds and a whole _bunch_ of things Ruby had never seen before and was instinctively afraid to ask about.

Weiss on the other hand bobbed up and down once on her toes and clapped her hands together twice, "Oh! I know some of these!"

Goodwitch looked at her with surprise that bordered on skepticism, "You're serious."

Basil answered for her, "Oh yes. It appears Ms Schnee is quite the precocious novice."

"So...do these room always have names?" Ruby asked, trying to avoid looking at some of the...well, torture devices on the walls.

Basil raised an eyebrow, but otherwise didn't seem bothered by Ruby's interjected question. When had that started?

Before Basil could answer, Weiss leaned in, "'Foyer' is a fancy word for entryway. Larger houses usually have their front doors open up into something like a very small lobby. And _that_ means the _real_ fun happens in _there_ "

Weiss pointed to the door on the far wall, and Ruby swallowed hard. _This_ room had already started to make her queasy.

"Besides, " Basil added, "who names a sex dungeon? What am I a hack? Did you expect it to be called the 'Red Room of Pain' or other somesuch nonsense?"

Ruby felt humiliated and then betrayed and then...skeptical? Basil had been such a gentleman up until that point and he'd made it clear they were supposed to ask questions. Then Ruby noticed Blake giggling next to Basil who seemed to be struggling to suppress a grin. Even Dr Oobleck and Vice Principal Goodwitch looked like they were in on some sort of private joke. Only Weiss seemed equally mistified as Ruby.

"Can someone let me in on the joke?" Ruby asked after a brief pause.

"Oh you won't miss it. I promise." Basil replied smiling, before turning to his other guest, "Weiss, if I may ask, has Pyrrha or Jaune told you of _Thomas and Gerard_?"

Weiss shook her head, "I'm sorry, no. I haven't heard it either."

Basil shrugged and sighed, "It's no matter. There are varying degrees of investment in This Thing That We Do, and I'd tell the story anyway."

Basil took a deep breath and began a monologue, "Thomas and Gerard are not real. Rather the story of _Thomas and Gerard_ was created by the first predator/prey faunus couples as a means of putting their thoughts and emotions to words. In those days, our love was shunned by society and life in the shadows did us much harm. We used the story of _Thomas and Gerard_ to find one another and to explain to those we trusted the most what it was we were involved with. The story still exists in novel form, although the Ritual of Family has generally taken it's place in many ways."

"The Ritual of Family?" Weiss asked when Basil stopped for a breath.

Basil smiled, "We've been performing the Ritual of Family since Ms Rose and you arrived. It's often pitched to the hesitant or uninformed as some kind of safety inspection since it also functions as that, but as you can see what we've been about today has been much more than simple safety practices. The true purpose of the Ritual of Family is to ensure that the Lovers aren't forced to hide their true selves from those they care about the most."

"So.." Ruby said seeing if she followed, "You and Blake would be the 'Lovers'. Weiss and I are the 'Gathered', and Dr Oobleck and Vice Principal Goodwitch are...you said 'Judges' right?"

Basil, nodded "Quite right. The Ritual is designed first to validate the uncertainty of the Gathered and then to erase it. I don't mean to diminish the importance of the ensuring safety in our play, but some in the Community have decades of experience. If Mistress Goodwitch, for instance, were to hold a Ritual of Family, there are few people who would be qualified to serve as a Judge over her, but she would still require those positions to be filled. In that case her Judges would act more as representatives of the Community than technical experts. We've found it important for the Gathered to know that our activities take place within certain bounds - even if they are _different_ bounds than people are used to. Not everyone is as open minded as Ms Schnee and yourself, even when their closest friends and family need them to be."

Ruby let that sink in. Goodwitch had said that this was about Basil and Blake, but that had been only partially true. This was also about her and Weiss and their relationship to Blake. Blake needed her friends to accept her for who she was and Basil - well Basil needed a lot of things, but mostly he needed Blake's friends to not think of him as a monster.

Weiss looked to Goodwitch and Oobleck, opened her mouth and then a pained expression fell over her face and she closed her mouth. Dr Oobleck smiled and responded to her unasked question.

"No Ms Schnee, Mistress Goodwitch and I are not together in that sense. In fact, people who are romantically or otherwise attached rarely if ever serve as Judges together. Most relationships in our Community tend away from egalitarianism and thus one perspective will prevail, making the second Judge rather obsolete."

Ruby looked at the Judges, "Your both Dominants." she said as she realized it.

Goodwitch looked back at Ruby, her eyebrows raised, "I'm starting to better understand Ozpin's decision to let you into Beacon early, but no. Dr Oobleck is a Dominant and I am a Switch. Technically a Submissive is capable of taking on the role of a Judge but they _tend_ to prefer not to. And while Dr Oobleck is entitled to make his own decisions, I prefer not to answer questions during the Ritual. It intrudes on the ceremony and takes attention away from the Lovers."

How often had Goodwitch done this that she had formed these kinds of opinions? More to the point….

Ruby opened her mouth to respond but then remembered Goodwitch's last statement. She turned back to Basil who answered before she could ask.

"Yes, Ms Rose, a Switch is just what it sounds like, a person who prefers to switch between the Dominant and the Submissive roles. In fact, I suspect if you ask her after the conclusion of the Ritual, Mistress Goodwitch would tell you that she explicitly finds remaining in one role for too long confining and unacceptable. But we've begun to stray. And at this point, I think it would be tedious to delve too deeply into the plot of some old novel, so I'll leave the story of _Thomas and Gerard_ for another day. For now I'd like to draw your attention here."

Basil motioned to the door on the far wall, the one Weiss had guessed led to the deepest parts of Blake and Basil's relationship. But only now did Ruby notice the plaque, centered at head height on the door. Ruby and Weiss approached to get a closer look. The plaque contained only a single image: a triangle contained within a circle. The triangle pointed up and circle ran through the points of the triangle precisely. The top point had a circle engraved above it, while the bottom two bore a shield on the left and a sword on the right.

"The Shield of Safety, the Sword of Sanity and the Crown of Consent. These are the guiding principles of our Community. They inform everything we do, for many of us even extending beyond the realm of play. In fact, there are a scant few of us who've taken the concept of Sanity to truly obsessive levels, and of course once you've seen Consent from our perspective it will almost certainly change the way you look at other things in your life."

That got Ruby curious, "How is it different?"

Basil smiled and looked as if he were going to answer, but then he turned and looked at Blake.

"It's not really. Well...it might be a little more consistent, I suppose." Blake replied.

"Consistent how?" Ruby asked.

Blake looked at Basil who simply looked back at her. It was obvious Blake had expected Basil to handle most of the questions, but for some reason he wasn't behaving the way she expected.

"Well…" Blake began, "If a person is truly acting of their own free will, not being subjected to force or threats of force, and is truly aware of the risks of what they're doing, then they should be free to do what they want with their own bodies. It's...also very important to be honest and clear about your boundaries...to know which ones are flexible and which are not."

"Boundaries?" Weiss interjected, "Why would I want to have boundaries? I've been saying 'No' my whole life. It's been an enormous relief to put that word away for good."

Basil looked away from her slightly, but Blake fixed her friend with a look of annoyance that shocked Ruby, "There's no such thing as a No-Limits Slave. What has Jaune be telling you?"

"It's not...I mean, I don't _want_ to have limits. I'm so _tired_ of being who I was. Why do I need to say 'No' if I don't want to!"

Ruby thought back to the revelation that Pyrrah had been behind the double-ass-grab walk-in-front-of-the-cameras stunt. Then she thought about how over his head he said he felt. Even as the "Dominant" in the relationship, he was the one drowning in their desires. If Ruby had known at the time, she would have been more supportive of his confusion and frustration.

"What about what Jaune needs?" Ruby replied in place of Blake or Basil, "Cause I talked to him just today and he's really confused and overwhelmed by everything that's happened. How's he supposed to know he's not _really_ hurting you if you aren't honest with him? Do you want him to just have to live with the uncertainty that maybe you're enjoying yourself but maybe you're living out your own personal horror movie?"

Basil added, "It sounds very much like Jaune is even more of a novice than you are Ms Schnee. Do I assume correctly that it is your metamour, Ms Nikos who introduced you to our lifestyle?"

Weiss nodded, half-skeptical half-sheepish.

"And where did she learn it?" Basil continued.

Weiss shrugged, "Well...I...I didn't think to ask her."

Blake made a groaning sound that would have sounded more natural coming from Weiss, but Basil put a hand up as if to hold her back.

"It appears the three of you have some learning to do. No one is asking you to put up arbitrary boundaries that you have no real desire to enforce. However, if you really put in the work to know yourself and to think clearly, I'm sure you'll find some things you realize you'd never want to be party to. Or things you find unsatisfying about your current relationship?"

Weiss's mouth dropped open, but then closed although the look of shock on her face remained.

"Hmm…" Basil began, "I was going to continue in here for a while...discuss safe restraint practices...rope selection, how to avoid nerve damage, that sort of thing. But actually since Ms Rose seems pretty far from needing the information and Weiss seems to need far _more_ of it than I can reasonably provide here, then perhaps it's best if we move on. For the time being we can put this conversation behind us just as we put this room behind us. Agreed?"

Ruby and Weiss nodded and Basil led them on. It didn't help Ruby's state of mind that the door opened immediately into a downward leading staircase, and a poorly lit one at that. At the bottom there was _another_ door with a hard-plastic backpack leaning up against it, with what could have been the sports-bra version of a sleeping mask hanging from a hook on the right wall. Blake took the sleeping mask and picked up the backpack and started to put it on before she realized what she was doing.

"Sorry. Force of habit. I'll get these out of your way though."

The room on the other side was enormous, nearly half the size of the warehouse above. It was so large that it required 4 pillars just to hold up the ceiling, which was easily 50 ft high. After some concerns expressed by Dr Oobleck, Basil assured them they weren't actually directly under the warehouse but rather off to the side. But it wasn't the size of the room that caught Ruby's attention. It wasn't that the floor was covered in mud. It wasn't even the normal-room-sized metal cage in the center that she noticed.

No what Ruby found herself staring at were the giant letters near the top of the far wall and easily readable, even at that distance:

THE PROVING GROUND

And then Ruby got the joke from earlier. She glared at Basil who only smirked.

"Technically I didn't say I _wasn't_ a hack…" Basil said, playfully.

Ruby hesitated a moment and then asked, "Can I _hit_ you now?"

Basil chuckled, "Yes that does seem appropriate to the circumstances, doesn't it?"

No sooner had he finished talking had Ruby slammed her left fist into Basil's shoulder. Basil's eyes went wide and he made a surprised guttural sound without parting his lips as he staggered sideways a step or two under the force of the blow, although Ruby hadn't thought the blow was quite so forceful. Basil took out his scroll and pressed a few buttons. Moments later Ruby's scroll chimed out an alert.

Basil had sent her a document called, "Impact Play for beginners"

For a moment Ruby thought she should apologize, but the giant sign was still embarrassing her. Then it occurred to her that Basil was playing with her. Basil had made fun of her for her supposed ignorance when not only had she been _right_ but the evidence of her being right was only two steps removed from being written in flaming letters on the sky. He'd embarrassed her, yes, but then he'd consented to her hitting him.

They'd come pretty far in only a little over an hour, Ruby and Basil.

"In any case, " Basil said, a smirk still on his face and in his voice, "I should explain."

"When dealing with predatory instincts, there are a number of principles developed over the years to reign them in, but the primary one is Exhaustion."

Ruby looked at Blake, "Exhaustion?"

Blake nodded, "It's more or less what it sounds like. When a person is tired what their body wants most is rest. You've forced yourself to get out of bed before. It's not that different. Normally when I come in here I already have the blindfold and the backpack on, though some days I'll do half an hour on a treadmill first. Just as a warm up."

"How heavy is it?" Ruby asked, and Blake handed it to her.

It wasn't terribly heavy. Perhaps the weight of a small child.

Ruby offered it to Weiss, who waved it off wordlessly, so she handed it back to Blake.

"The first step is to find the keys." Blake continued.

Before anyone could ask, Basil typed a few keystrokes into his scroll, and what sounded to Ruby to be very much like a series of t-shirt cannons came from above and six small metallic objects came down from the ceiling. Now that Ruby was looking, she noticed other gun-like objects hanging from the ceiling.

"What are _those_?" Ruby asked, but when she turned back she realized that Basil had turned his back to the group.

Blake leaned in, "Paintball guns" she whispered.

An instinct built up in Ruby to try to say something positive about the room, but that hadn't worked before. And perhaps she'd just be doing it for herself anyway. Trying to make the awkwardness go away rather than endure it alongside Basil.

"We don't always use them, " Blake added, "But they turn on automatically if it takes me too long to collect all the keys."

"How do you even find them?" Ruby asked.

"I listen carefully. It's not easy but I can generally track where they land, or at least get fairly close. The rest is searching on hands and knees."

Before anyone could say anything, Basil pressed a few more keys on his scroll and a forcefield materialized in the shape of a walkway just above the mud. It led straight to the center of room, towards the metal cage.

"I erm, made some modifications to make the tour less troublesome." He still avoided eye contact with Ruby and Weiss, but he led the way towards the central cage, which, Ruby noticed, had a door with six locks on it. It occurred to Ruby then, that exhaustion was only a small part of what was happening here. Blake had to absolutely _struggle_ to get close to Basil.

He'd called this place _The Proving Ground._ What was Blake proving with this? That she was worthy? Or was it simpler than that? Was she proving that she _really did_ want to be with him? That made a _lot_ of sense when Ruby thought about it. Basil was an incredible person when you got down to it, but nobody sees themselves the way others do. How many years had Basil lived alone? How long had he been without friends? Terrified of rejection? But there was something else going on here that seemed just out of Ruby's reach…

The black metal cage had apparently not been locked this time. And rather than bars, the walls were more of a criss-cross fence-like pattern. When they entered, Ruby noticed a small cupboard-like container at the top of one of the walls, touching the ceiling and spanning the entire length of the wall. Other than that the cage stood empty.

"Yes, that's where I store the pack when I get in. I have to do it quickly before the music starts."

Basil leaned towards Blake, "I'm going to start the song now."

Blake nodded and Basil pressed a few more buttons on his scroll. The entire underground chamber filled up with violin music, but this was not like the music Basil had played upstairs. It shared with his previous work only that it was a violin piece. The tempo and the emotion behind the music filled Ruby with a sense of urgency, even dread. Blake noticeably flinched, which drew concerned looks from Dr Oobleck and Vice Principal Goodwitch, but Basil didn't seem to notice.

Also the cage's walls began to light up. They took turns glowing, backlit by bright blue force fields. After a moment Ruby noticed that the floor and ceiling were part of the pattern. She couldn't follow it precisely but she was sure it wasn't random.

"During the song," Blake spoke up, "The cage becomes electrified. Except for one face of the cube - "

The song went out abruptly, and to noticeable surprise on Blake's face, "Erm…" she continued, "which face is safe is a determined by the subtle variations in the song. I keep the blindfold on...actually I think Basil added the lights to make the explanation simpler."

Basil nodded.

"In any case, " Blake continued, "After a certain number of shocks, the music ends, a trapdoor opens in the floor and...well, the rest is private."

For a moment Ruby blanched. If they were willing to show this much, what were they keeping _private_? But she decided not to judge.

"Quite impressive actually," Dr Oobleck spoke, much to Ruby's surprise.

"This trial seems well suited to her particular Semblance. But it must take some time to drain her Aura completely, does it not?"

Basil shook his head, "She's unable to use her Semblance in the Cage. I have….an Aura Interdiction Field Generator."

Oobleck and Goodwitch's eyes went wide. Even Weiss seemed shocked.

"You are aware that those are _illegal_ in Vale, are you not?" Goodwitch asked, accusatorily.

Basil shook his head, "Only to buy and sell. I built mine from scratch. And I have no intention of sharing it with anyone. Even the knowledge of it is limited to those in this room."

A moment passed, and finally Goodwitch responded, "Very well...still its existence should be registered. I'll see to the paperwork immediately."

Ruby raised her hand, "Excuse me. What's an Aura Interdiction….thing?"

Surprisingly, the answer came from Weiss, "They shut down your ability to use your Semblance and your ability to protect yourself with your Aura. It's an impressive training regime, really. Better than the one _I_ was raised on, certainly."

Blake did this without her Semblance? Without even her _Aura_? Ruby had no words.

Weiss continued, "I thought the point of this was to make her weak. Aren't you just making her stronger and stronger by training her like this?"

Basil didn't look back at her directly, "I may... _need_ Blake to be weak from time to time...but in my heart of hearts the one thing I wish for above anything else is for her to be strong."

Something clicked in Ruby's mind. A backpack, the weight of a child, the scrambling for keys with a time limit...and finally getting inside and running back and forth...all over a house perhaps? And on top of everything else, something about Basil's pain had seemed familiar from the beginning.

"This is how your mother died." Ruby said the words as she thought them.

Basil's eyes went wide but he said nothing. No one did.

As if in a daze, Ruby looked back towards the entrance, "She carried you on her back...running from...someone. She got to your house but she dropped the key in the mud and had to scramble to find it. When she got in she started to pack. She was running back and forth trying to get the things that mattered. But she took too long…."

Ruby looked up at the cupboard on the wall, "She hid you...oh god. You were there. You _heard_ …."

Ruby turned back at Basil. Tears were streaming down his face, but he only nodded. Blake looked at Basil in pain and shock.

"...you never told me…" Blake said finally.

Basil chuckled as more tears streamed down his face, "I suppose I didn't want to be seen as a cliche. I didn't know your friends were so exceptionally intelligent."

Blake moved closer to him, but didn't reach out to embrace him until he reach out to her. They held each other and it warmed Ruby's heart to see, although Weiss looked sadder somehow.

A moment passed, and then Goodwitch spoke up, "I'd like to remind you, Basil, that you are always welcome in the Community. We have a Munch coming up this weekend. I hope you'll attend."

Basil didn't move from the sheltered cocoon of Blake's embrace, "Only if Weiss and Ruby attend as well."

There was a pause but then Weiss asked before Ruby could.

"What's a Munch?"

Goodwitch replied, "Just an informal meal with members of the Community. Professor Ozpin will be there. There's no...special clothing or rules except to keep your hands to yourself without express permission to do otherwise. We eat. We talk. Bring Jaune and Pyrrha if they're curious."

Ruby barely heard the latter part of what Goodwitch had said. She'd been too distracted by the first part, "Professor Ozpin?"

Dr Oobleck glanced sideways at Goodwitch but then replied, "Well...normally we don't discuss who is and is not a member of the Community with outsiders. It can cause trouble for people in their everyday lives for that knowledge to become public. But I suppose the two of you can hardly be considered outsiders at this point. Please keep that information to yourselves."

"But yes…" Oobleck continued, "The only occasion I've known the Headmaster to miss a Munch, he was hospitalized after a pitched battle"

Oobleck turned back to Basil and Blake, "Though I should probably warn you that although Ruby is a Beacon student in good standing, she is not technically a legal adult. She was let into Beacon two years early for reasons that hardly need explaining at this point."

Goodwitch inclined her head towards Oobleck, "Ozpin will make an exception for her. Even if we need to lay some extra ground rules. She's already done a Ritual of Family, and this was far more intense than a simple Munch."

Ruby's brow furrowed, "Was I...not supposed to be here?"

Blake turned to her, "I insisted you be allowed to attend. There's nothing illegal going on here, so I just needed to find Judges who would accept it. And be willing to act as chaperones. Dr Oobleck and Professor Goodwitch are respected enough in the Community that they aren't likely to be second guessed for validating the Ritual with their presence."

"Wow, all this talk about food is making me hungry," Ruby began, "Heh...I guess _all_ of this made _you_ hungry, huh Blake?"

Blake stared in horror and what looked to Ruby like shock. She shook her head slightly, as if she were trying to pass a secret message to her teammate. Most of all she looked like she was begging.

But it was too late, "Is something wrong, my love?" Basil asked her.

She shook her head more noticeably now, but it was too quick and too nervous to be true.

"My love, _please_ ," Basil pressed, "There's no need to hold anything back now, if our current routine is insufficient I can change anything you need…."

Blake said nothing, but her eyes darted to the exit as if she'd noticed only now that she was trapped in a cage.

"I can make an effigy of raw meat for you to tear apart…" Basil offered.

No response. But Blake writhed noticeably in Basil's arms.

"I can synthesize thiols and diamides to simulate the smell of death…" Basil's tone grew more desperate.

No response. But Blake pulled away from Basil and turned her back to him.

"Mi Angelita... _please_ ," And now Basil was the one who was begging.

" _Belladonna_ " Dr Oobleck's voice came, deeper than normal, "You are not helping anyone with your silence. If the Judges and the Gathered must leave, then we will leave, but this is not acceptable."

Blake turned back to Basil and practically whimpered, "I don't want to hurt you…"

Basil approached as if to comfort hurt, but she pulled back and shouted, "I've _never_...wanted to hurt you."

Basil stopped and stared at Blake, his face locked in paralysis between shock, nausea and shame.

"Oh...Oh I see.." this time Basil turned away from Blake, "Well I suppose that _does_ make a few of the things we've been doing superfluous,"

Blake tried to close the distance with Basil, but he pulled away. She tried to speak but he _growled_ over her. Finally she fell to her hands and knees but Basil turned his back on her.

Ruby looked at Weiss, who shook her head and shrugged in as much shock as Ruby felt. Oobleck and Goodwitch stared at the floor. They didn't look like they knew what to do either, and for a moment fear and doubt nearly overcame Ruby Rose. But she couldn't allow it. Her friends - Blake _and_ Basil - were hurting. Someone had to do something about it, so she stuffed her fear in a box and spoke with far more confidence than she felt.

"Why is that bad?" was all she asked.

Basil looked at Ruby and laughed the laugh of the damned, "Well it certainly makes things less complicated I suppose! This lifestyle...it is as much about practicality as it is about aesthetics. Form follows function as they say. This place...was _supposed_ to be a place that met _both_ our needs. And as it turns out, the only function it serves is as a monument to my _colossal weakness_."

He looked looked out the door of the cage and up to the high ceilings of the outer chamber and spoke bitterly, "Although I suppose seen in that light, it's not _nearly_ large enough."

"Basil please…" Blake whimpered again.

" _Shut up!"_ Basil snarled.

Ruby closed her eyes and tried shut out her fear and self-recrimination. She knew deep in her heart she'd made _all_ of this happen. It wasn't just the poorly timed remark that accidentally made Blake spill her secret, but also the raw state Basil had been in at that very moment after she'd discovered the truth about his mother's death. This was _her fault_ and she couldn't stand by and do nothing. She had to think of a plan.

Basil wasn't angry at Blake. Not directly. He was ashamed. Ashamed of his own needs. He felt he was taking more from Blake then he gave her, that he was a monster. That shame had been there a long time to be that intense. It had been there long before he'd ever met Blake. Long enough to turn into _hate_. Blake wasn't begging him to forgive her. She was begging him to stop attacking _himself_.

The problem defined, Ruby moved to strategy. The Golden Rule, her father had told her, wasn't just a way to be nice to people. It was also a way to understand people. By sheer luck, Ruby had been present at a time when Basil wanted to comfort someone else who felt shame. He'd comforted Weiss when she expressed her horror at what her family had done to his own, but he'd done something else first.

He'd _attacked_ her shame.

Ruby opened her eyes and looked around. This lifestyle was built on principles and ideas, and she was beginning to understand them. Ruby made her choice. If worst came to worst, everyone would be mad at her instead of Blake, at least. She reached up behind her back and put her hand on Crescent Rose. Twirling it around as she drew it, the beast of a weapon unfolded and landed with the the butt of the handle stabbing into the ground and the sniper muzzle pointing straight up. Before anyone could react, she fired at the ceiling. A cloud of sparks rained down on everyone just as Ruby herself vanished into a cloud of rose petals.

She appeared behind Basil and put the sharp inner edge of the Crescent Rose inches from his neck, this time with the butt of the handle pointing up towards the ceiling. He pulled back into her on reflex and she stopped him with her own body. She reached around him and put her left hand on his chest and leaned him slightly off balance, with all of his weight on one foot.

"Ruby Rose, _what are you doing?_ " Goodwitch shouted, her riding crop pointed directly at the nearly spooning pair. Glowing particles, the telltale signs of the Vice-Principal's Semblance orbited the tip of her implement.

"I'm going to kill him," Ruby replied, helpfully.

Goodwitch's eyes widened in shock, but Oobleck's face only hardened.

"Has Basil offended you so much?" Oobleck asked.

"Basil?" Ruby replied, "No, no, no. This isn't Basil." Ruby turned to glare at Basil who tried to pull his entire face away from her, "This is Basil's worst enemy. This is the guy who hates Basil Rathbone more than anyone in the world. Isn't it?"

Basil stopped shaking. He turned hesitantly to lock eyes with Ruby, before laughing nervously, "Alright, Ruby. Alright. I'll play." Goodwitch lowered her riding crop.

He took a breath and then another. And another. And with each moment his face hardened. With each moment he became more the person Ruby had seen tear into Blake without a moment's hesitation.

"I do hate Basil. I hate him more than you've ever hated anything in your life. But you can't protect him from me. I'm always here."

"Not for long, dead man." Ruby said without the tone of threat in her voice, as if she were merely explaining the facts.

Basil laughed, "Ha! You forget, Ruby. I've been here the entire time. From the moment you walked in the door, I've been watching you. When you entered the foyer, while Basil politely ignored your trepidation, _I_ was watching carefully. I saw which toys you avoided with your eyes, and I extrapolated your Limits like it was a _parlor trick_. I could tell you things I've done to Blake - things _Basil_ has done to Blake that would turn your stomach inside out."

Ruby put a foot in front of the leg she'd forced Basil to balance on and pushed him over as she pulled Crescent Rose out of the way. He slammed onto the metal floor of the cage, barely getting his hands up to protect his face in time. Before he could move, Ruby spun Crescent Rose through a half turn and shoved the tip of sniper rifle, into the back of Basil head, pinning his head between the floor and a flawless instrument of death.

"I can see why Blake couldn't destroy you by herself, but she's not alone anymore. Everyone in here cares about Basil. If Blake lied about something, it sure as _hell_ wasn't to help you hurt the man she loves."

Basil growled "You can't kill me. I will return again and again as I always have. I am forever."

"You are tiny. Just a voice in the dark, powerless on its own, a voice that will get more distant and harder to hear as time goes by. Goodbye you disgusting piece of garbage. No one will miss you."

Ruby pulled the trigger back on Crescent Rose, and the hammer snapped into place, but nothing happened. She stepped over Basil and twirled Crescent Rose back into its folded position on her back. She squatted down to his level near Basil's head. In another lifetime (about two hours ago) she would have been insecure about his ability to see her up her skirt from that angle. But hey, after everything she'd put him through she could hardly begrudge him a glance, though she never saw him take the opportunity.

She offered him her hand, and he took it. She lifted him back to a standing position, looked him in the eye and said, "Sorry about that, Basil. I was aiming for the other guy."

He threw his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. Ruby reciprocated. After a moment Basil spoke.

"How did you know?"

"I had a good teacher." she replied. Then she looked at Blake. Her words were stern but almost childlike, though not quite, "Blake. You should _not_ have lied to Basil. Do you promise not to do that again?"

Blake looked up at Ruby, still on her knees, and nodded. Basil pulled himself away from Ruby, looked in Blake's general direction - though not directly at her - and patted his thigh twice. Blake activated her Semblance immediately, a copy of her body leaping out just as the one left behind faded into non-existence. She reached Basil almost as fast as Ruby had.

Ruby stepped away slowly as the two embraced. She turned away to give the lovers the most privacy she could, but then saw Dr Oobleck, Vice-Principal Goodwitch and Weiss Schnee staring at her like they didn't know who she was.

From behind her Basil stomped twice on the floor and a trapdoor opened in the middle of the cage. Blake had said it was there but Ruby hadn't actually seen it. Basil pulled his face away from Blake's and gulped down air.

"With respect…" he said, "everyone get out."


	4. Bonus Footage 2

Jaune Arc fidgeted with his scroll as he waited. The booth at _Mudka's Protein Extravaganza_ was developing quite a history. At this booth, Pyrrha had defended his honor from Weiss. At this booth, Ruby had given him that pep talk that had changed his whole perspective about his changing status at Beacon. And now, for some reason, he was meeting Blake's boyfriend. He didn't know how he should feel.

Weiss and Ruby had both raved about the guy. They said he was smart, funny, friendly. A real nice guy. Then it turned out he wanted to meet Jaune one on one. To talk. About _stuff_. Like...Weiss and Pyrrha stuff. He almost called it off then and there, but Weiss had begged - literally on her knees, so it wasn't as if he could say no.

"Mr Arc?" a voice interrupted his thought. Jaune looked up and saw a short faunus with rounded ears and saddest green eyes he had ever seen. He stood with his hands behind his back.

"Uh...sorry," Jaune replied, "I'm meeting someone. But could I get another water?"

The faunus smiled, "I'm sure you can, although I presume you'll have to ask a waiter. My name is Basil Rathbone. May I join you?"

Jaune tripped over himself verbally for a second or two, "I..uh, ah, oh. Basil, hey! I um, you're….not what I expected."

Basil raised an eyebrow, "Not a hairless yellow-skinned troll with a bullwhip?" Basil smiled. Then his smile faded and he looked sad for a moment. Then he shook his head from side to side and sat down.

"Before we begin, " Basil began, "Allow me to set you at ease. My reason for asking you here is because I am concerned. On _your_ behalf."

Jaune's forehead wrinkled, "You're...worried about _me_?" it wasn't that Jaune had never experienced that before. But since all this craziness had started with Weiss and Pyrrha, everyone just wanted to high-five, fist-bump, and take pictures with him.

"I...really? I mean, why?" Jaune replied.

Basil looked down at the table between them for a moment before looking back up at Jaune, "A... _small_ number of _minor_ details came up when Weiss was visiting with us. They led me to believe that Pyrrha...and to a lesser extent Weiss, have roped you into playing a role you might not wish to be playing."

Jaune swallowed. There weren't very many details about his sex life Jaune was comfortable with people knowing about. Actually he was even starting to be less comfortable with people knowing it existed than he'd ever thought he would be.

Jaune scratched the back of his neck, "He he...well, um...it's definitely been a crazy time. But I really like being with Weiss and Pyrrha. I never really imagined being with more than one girl at the same time. But it's...I don't know...a lot more normal than I ever would have thought."

Basil nodded, "Normal...perhaps. In that you're doing what's required of you and getting rewarded with sex and status. "

Jaune's eyes went wide, "Uh what? I don't...maybe Weiss didn't tell you…" he stopped. If Weiss didn't share that information, Jaune's sure _as hell_ was not going to.

"They play the role of slaves groveling at your feet and you play the role of their master. Am I far off?" Basil asked.

Jaune hunched and blushed. His face screwed up into what might have been real pain, "No...not really."

"And you think that that means you are getting what you want?" Basil continued.

Jaune's confusion broke him out of his embarrassment, "Uh...run that by me again?"

Basil took a deep breath and sighed, "Oh Jaune. I'm really not sure where to begin except to say that Dominants and Tops are allowed to have Limits as well. Just because Weiss or Pyrrha want something doesn't mean you have to do it if it makes you uncomfortable. "

Something inside Jaune relaxed...a tension he hadn't known was there. It had been building since Pyrrha first pulled out her suitcase full of sex-toys she used to torture Weiss. It turned out Weiss really, legitimately enjoyed having someone hurt her until she cried, but...Jaune couldn't bring himself to think about sex with tears streaming down a girl's face. Pyrrha had seemed disappointed when he told her that. _She_ had wanted Weiss to….perform _while_ being tortured, but that had been way over the line for him.

It hadn't been easy for him to tell them no. Even when Pyrrha had said over and over that she wanted to do anything and everything he said, she'd still seemed disappointed when he hadn't wanted to do that. It hadn't been Weiss's fault. She clearly loved to be made to grovel and beg and get flogged and spit on, but Jaune hadn't felt the same pressure coming from her as he had from Pyrrha.

"From...what I understand," Basil continued gently, "Pyrrha loves you very much, and much of her enthusiasm is probably nothing more than the novelty of new love, but it is up to you to set and enforce your own boundaries. Even though it does seem like Pyrrha's desire for Total Power Exchange is a genuine one, her understanding of that lifestyle is limited. And she is making mistakes that could harm you all."

Jaune looked away from Basil at nothing in particular. Basil endured the silence with him. Pyrrha _had_ been pushing him into things he wasn't comfortable with. It wasn't the kind of peer pressure he was used to. It wasn't a knowing smirk and jab with an elbow. She hadn't said, " _Come on…_ " over and over with a playful voice. But as Jaune got to know this new side of her, he'd started to recognize the desperate _need_ inside of her. After everything Pyrrha had done for him denying her even one thing felt like a crime.

But if she were going to hurt herself and maybe Weiss and him too...well he had to do something about that.

Jaune turned back to Basil, "What do I do?" he asked.

"I've...prepared some documents. Mostly a number of contracts and essays. They should give you a better framework for how to live this lifestyle safely than whatever patchwork of romance novels Pyrrha has been reading." Jaune's scroll beeped to acknowledge the receipt of the files. There were several dozen….

"I...I hope I can get Pyrrha to read these...she's so obsessed with doing whatever I tell her that she'll probably sign her name to anything without even reading it."

Basil rotated his head and regarded Jaune with his right eye more than than his left. His brow furrowed and he shrugged, "Have you...considered _ordering_ her to read them?"

Jaune stared at Basil. The thought had not, in fact, occurred to him.

"If you believe it appropriate, " Basil continued, "You could tell her that after she's done there will be a test. And consequences for failure. Of the kind she _won't_ enjoy."

It could work. Jaune looked up at Basil, "So like...for every question she gets wrong, I won't even look at her for a day?"

Basil smiled, "You know her better than I do, though whatever you choose you _must_ be prepared to enforce."

Jaune thought about it. Being some selfish jerk that ordered girls around for fun was _not_ what he'd wanted to be when he grew up. But this was something else entirely. Pyrrha had asked him to make decisions for her. Up until now he'd thought that was just about when, where, and how often to have sex. This was far more important. In fact, it was something he could actually feel entitled to _be_ bossy about. Because he cared about her.

Jaune looked up, "Thank you, Basil"

* * *

Ruby walked into her dorm at Beacon academy. Weiss had gone off to talk to Jaune about something and Blake had been spending even more time with Basil lately, though not so much that didn't spend time with her teammates.

So Ruby had been alone when she opened up the door to her dorm room and saw Yang.

Naked.

Well, except for the ball gag in her mouth. And the ropes that tied her hands behind her back.

Coco was there to.

Naked.

Well except for her beret and sunglasses... and whatever was strapped to her pelvis. Ruby couldn't see what it was because Yang was bent over in front of her. There was moment of silence and finally Coco spoke.

"This is exactly what it looks like"

* * *

 _She's going to see you for what you are. She's going to take one look at you and see through every pretense of etiquette and your veneer of civilized, cultured sophistication and know you for the monster that you are._

 _Then she's going to show Blake the truth. You're going to look into the eyes of the woman you love and see the horror that should have been there from the beginning. If you're lucky they will kill you, but when have you ever been lucky?_

 _No, they'll simply leave you behind. Alone. Forever parched in the dessert of your solitude. Forever yearning for the acceptance that you don't deserve. You will suffer without end._

 _And all will be right with the world._

"It's okay, you know." the Reaper interrupted his thoughts, "I don't think you're hurting Blake or anything. I mean, I can't say I get it _completely_ but it's like I said. She's happy, and I know that's because of you."

* * *

"So how did you land _this_ place?" the Reaper asked innocently.

Basil and the Death Goddess froze. That could be a complicated question to answer in present company. But then Basil noticed the Reaper's face fall into sadness and frustration. It wasn't fair. She was trying so hard to be a friend to him.

 _And perhaps it says something about you that people have to put so much_ work _into tip-toeing around your landmines. Has it not occurred to you that they'd be better off if they didn't try? That you aren't worth the effort?_

Basil put those thoughts away. He didn't have the time.

"No…" he begged her, "please, I...I'm sorry. It's not your fault at all. I…"

He turned his gaze towards the Lady, "I'd simply prefer to discuss that at another time."

* * *

The Death Goddess flinched at Basil's touch like it was a pile of radioactive waste, "I've _never_...wanted to hurt you."

 _Hahahahaha Ahahahahaha Hahahahahahahah_

 _This is too rich. Even I could not have predicted this. Who would have guessed that you were too pitiful to even be worthy of slaughter? Obvious in retrospect of course. But even I could not have guessed the depths of your selfishness. Do you not see it now? The enormity of what you've stolen from her? It was one thing when you could lie to yourself with the thought that she enjoyed being with you on some base physical level. But no more. You cannot continue your life with her without finally admitting to yourself what you are. The Apex of Depravity. The Thief of Souls. You are the end of light and hope and joy for anyone you touch. Anathema._

"Goodbye you disgusting piece of garbage," the Reaper told the voice inside Basil head, "No one will miss you."

She blew his brains out.

* * *

The Boy tripped over his own words, "I..uh, ah, oh. Basil, hey! I um, you're….not what I expected."

Basil raised an eyebrow and smirked, "Not a hairless yellow-skinned troll with a bullwhip?"

 _Yes that would be an improvement, wouldn't it?_

Basil shoved that thought to the corner of his mind. He imagined Ruby slicing the person who said it to pieces in a shower of gore. He didn't have time for self-recrimination.

The Boy needed his help, and he owed it to Ruby and Weiss to steer the triad away from self-destruction.

Perhaps in the end he _could_ have value.


	5. Chapter 3

Pyrrha blanched. Her greatest fears were coming true before her very eyes. And right here, in the place she spent so many hours with the man she loved, talking...training. In the place where they'd first made love.

"You...want to be alone with Weiss?" she asked.

Jaune sighed, "Pyrrha stop it."

Pyrrha holstered her spear onto her back and shrugged ever so slightly with her left shoulder, "Stop what?"

But she hadn't been able to keep the fear out of her voice.

Jaune opened his mouth, but then closed it. He looked away pensively for a moment before locking eyes with her.

"Stop forgetting what you mean to me. Look I get it. You were put on a pedestal your whole life, and now you want to get out of the spotlight - you want me to shield you from it. To be on the pedestal for you. I get it. But don't forget who I was."

Pyrrha took a step towards her lover. Something in him seemed sad and her instinct was to comfort him, but he turned away from her.

"Maybe you never saw me that way - the way that Weiss and everyone else saw me. But that's what I was. And if it wasn't for you, that's _still_ what I'd be."

Pyrrha didn't know what to feel. She wasn't even sure what this conversation was about anymore.

"Jaune, you - " she began.

"No!" Jaune turned back around and approached her, "Look….however great and wonderful and awesome you think I am - you made me that way. And I will never forget it."

"But you still love Weiss." Pyrrha finished his thought.

"NO! I mean...yes, but not...ahhhh!" Jaune growled and threw up his hands. He looked at the ground and shook his head.

"Damn it, Pyrrha. I really wish you wouldn't make me say this part…" he looked up at her, "You're first. I will always love you more than I love Weiss. You will always mean more to me than Weiss does. Because you made me who I am. What I feel for you goes deeper than anything I've ever felt. You're my whole identity. I don't exist without Pyrrha Nikos."

Pyrrha took a moment to collect her thoughts. This wasn't the breakup speech she'd had nightmares about. But it _did_ look quite a bit like those nightmares. He'd even admitted he was in love with Weiss.

"So…" Pyrrha began cautiously, "What's changed?"

Jaune stepped away from her again, "We're not being fair to her. Weiss is more than just a sex toy. And yeah, I get that she enjoys what we've been doing, but...she's a person, Pyrrha. She deserves more."

Pyrrha smiled weakly, "So nothing's changed. You're still the kind hearted, noble man I've always loved. You even forgave the woman who broke your heart."

Jaune swooped in and kissed her. Time stopped for Pyrrha and she dissolved into him. Night became Day and Winter became Spring. She almost didn't notice when Jaune finally had to come up for breath.

"Alright. I'm heading out now. And you have some homework to do."

* * *

Weiss knocked on the door to the studio apartment, which in a sense, was strange considering the place was in her name. Jaune and Pyrrha had been burning through their personal funds on hotel rooms since before Weiss had joined the relationship. It was a terrible financial decision on their part, but Weiss had restricted herself to respectful suggestions on more effective purchasing habits. She'd also waited until Jaune was absent to discuss her willingness to rent a small apartment on the outskirts of the Beacon area. He wouldn't have liked the idea of her spending that kind of money on him, but Pyrrha had no problem with it.

But Weiss was still the bottom of the totem pole in the relationship, a position she found shockingly comforting. Pyrrha had established quite a number of rules for her to follow, which at first seemed strange. It didn't take long for Weiss to figure out the game for what it was, however. The three had played quite a _number_ of games since then, and Weiss had enjoyed every moment of it.

But it was more than that. Seeing Jaune and Pyrrha together, she felt she was finally learning what love really looked like for the first time in her life. Her parents had been no example. They'd hidden their coldness and distance under a mask of propriety and etiquette. Maybe that's why she liked being degraded and humiliated. Maybe for her, intimacy and love had to look as different from the way she was raised as possible. Maybe. Did anyone _really_ understand how these things worked?

Jaune opened the door finally, a bouquet of white roses in his hands, and he was in the same suit he'd worn to the school dance...before the dress.

"Hello, Snow Angel" he said, without the slightest hint of irony in his voice.

"Jaune?" Weiss asked, not really knowing what her question was.

"Come on in." Jaune invited her.

Weiss looked around. Jaune had turned out the lights and filled the entire apartment with lit candles. He'd set the dinner table with fine china, crystalware and anointed it with two white dust-candles whose flames burned white as well.

"I...Jaune what's going on? Where's Pyrrha?" Weiss asked.

"Pyrrha's working on something important, and I decided to take the opportunity for us to have some alone time."

Weiss tensed, "Should we...be doing this?"

After a little struggle, Jaune popped the cork on a wine bottle. He shrieked when the cork finally came out. Weiss examined the bottle with a subtle glance. He'd selected white wine of course, and not the cheapest variety. It certainly didn't compare to what her father drank with his evening meals, but it would have been a significant purchase for Jaune. He motioned for her to sit and poured her a glass of wine before pouring his.

"I thought we'd start with some stuffed dates - blue cheese and pecans. Then I made us a nice tuna carpaccio, to be followed by my mother's recipe for creme brulee."

Jaune sat across from her. Weiss couldn't remember the last time she'd been this flustered. Normally the appropriate strategy for feeling confused was to accuse the other person of having a secret or an ulterior motive - even if you didn't really think they did. That way they'd fall all over themselves to explain and you didn't have to come out and admit that you didn't understand what was going on. That strategy was no longer on the table for her, for many reasons. Weiss selected her words carefully.

"Jaune...I'm really confused right now. What is going on? I thought we were going to play human-pinata tonight?"

Jaune took a sip of his wine and nearly spit it out. Had he never drunk wine before this very moment? He set the glass down a little further away from him than was natural.

"So basically...I finally had that talk with Basil. You were right, he's a great guy. And he made me realize some things. I've be drowning in what Pyrrha wants and what you want. Pyrrha wants someone to be the boss in her life. I get that now, even though it took me a while. You...well I think you just want something different. But I've been going nuts trying to make you both happy. I didn't even stop to think about what I wanted. When I finally _did_. Well...I came up with this…"

Jaune held his hands out to the side at 45 degree angles without extending his elbows.

Weiss looked around at the scene as if for the first time. It was the most romantic gesture anyone had ever made for her. Sure, she'd had nicer dates than this before coming to Beacon, but those weren't hand crafted experiences. She'd just known a few boys with enough money to throw around to make it look like they didn't even _need_ to marry into the Schnee family. The liars.

Weiss thought back over his words. They formed valid sentences and were completely on topic - and yet she wasn't any less confused than she'd been before he said them.

"Why would you do this for me?" Weiss's words came out differently than she'd intended them.

Jaune put down the date he'd been about to cram into his mouth and looked at her. He sighed

"Look...I just had one of these big, serious feelings-talks with Pyrrha like twenty minutes ago. She was scared I was dumping her to be with just you. I don't want to have another one right now. Nothing's changing - except...well, there's things _I_ want out of this relationship too. "

Weiss complied, and the dinner went on uneventfully. In particular she found herself shocked at Jaune's culinary skills. He explained that his sisters had all insisted that he know how and had each taken turns teaching him their specialties. Jaune took the opportunity to delve into stories about his family - mostly stories about his sisters.

"So that's when my sister Grincheux got invited to participate in Atlas's 73rd annual junior Fine Arts festival...and _of course_ my dad made me go along with her."

Weiss froze. She'd been _at_ that Fine Arts Festival. She'd _performed_ there in the solo vocalist category only a few months before coming to Beacon. Had he…

"I never got a chance to tell you this before, but...you have the most beautiful singing voice I've ever heard." Jaune told her.

Something broke inside of Weiss Schnee. She remembered the song she sang that day. She remembered why she sang it. She remembered what, deep down, she had hoped would happen, even if it was silly thing to hope for.

Weiss pushed her chair away from the table, "I can't do this - "

For once, Jaune was faster. He reached out and grabbed her hand before she could stand up.

"Stop it!" he ordered her.

Weiss looked up at him, confused. He couldn't have known the truth. But at this point, obedience and subservience had become her safe place and she went their reflexively. Weiss bowed her head and said nothing.

"I know that look. Tell me what it is." Jaune's order came out with an air of tiredness to it.

"I…" Weiss tried, "I...don't know how."

"Say it!" Jaune tried again, slightly louder this time.

" _I'm horrible_!" she screamed, pulling her hand from Jaune's grasp and turning her face further away from him. Jaune didn't fill the silence that came after so she continued, "I don't deserve to be with you and Pyrrha."

Weiss stood up and headed towards the door. Jaune got there first and put his hand on the far part of the door frame, blocking her way with his arm.

"Weiss don't do this. Just talk to me," Jaune said with a kindness in his voice she didn't deserve.

Weiss turned her back on him and crossed her arms. Jaune didn't press and the silence dragged on for several moments.

"When I was a little girl, " Weiss began finally, "I read a book about a woman who discovered a genie that granted wishes. But the genie could only hear songs, not spoken word. From then on I used to think of every song as a wish."

She turned back to look at Jaune to see if he'd figured it out yet, but she saw only kindness there. Not comprehension.

"It was a girlish fantasy, but as long as I didn't tell anyone I could keep it safe. I kept that fantasy hidden inside me for years. Even all the way to just before coming to Beacon. It's why I picked _Mirror, mirror_."

Weiss swallowed hard and took several deep breaths, though her eyes were already beginning to fill with tears.

"When I sang, I prayed that someone would hear _me_ under the song. That someone would see me as something other than a way into the Schnee dynasty. That someone would love me."

The tears started streaming down her face, "After I pretended that those thoughts never happened. I pretended that…" she shook her head, "But my wish came true. And it was _you_."

"It was always you." she added with a sense of realization in her voice.

Weiss's face twisted in shame and horror. Jaune stepped towards her and reached out for her. Weiss put up her arms in an 'X' in front of her face, but Jaune didn't stop. He pulled her into her arms and held her there.

Weiss struggled against him, but it was a token effort. In an actual, physical conflict, Jaune wasn't much of an opponent for someone with Weiss's skills. She pounded him with her fists with all the force of an exhausted child, and she sobbed like one as well.

After a few moments she quieted down. Without warning, Jaune reached down with one arm and literally swept her off her feet. He carried her to the bed. To Weiss's surprise all clothing remained in place, with the exception of shoes, and he continued to hold her on the bed, the two of them both facing the same direction. The better part of an hour past before either of them spoke.

"I won't pretend you didn't hurt me, Weiss. But it's okay now. And you still deserve to be happy."

Weiss rolled around in place to face him. She looked into his eyes and a profound desperation overtook her, but she had no words for it, except…

"I love you, Jaune." she said with a barely contained madness in her voice..

"I love you too, Weiss." he repeated.

She reached out and pulled him closer, into a bear-hug that might have been enough to hurt him if she'd been Pyrrha. Several minutes went by before Weiss spoke again.

"I still want to play human-pinata"

* * *

"I love you, Jaune" the Stupid Girl mewled.

"I love you too, Weiss," the Thing parroted back.

Several uninteresting moments passed.

"I still want to play human-pinata" the Stupid Girl added before the Grand Matriarch turned off the video feed.

"Excuse me...Mrs Schnee?" the petitioner interrupted her.

The Grand Matriarch turned her eyes to him slowly and she saw all the blood drain from his face.

"I...have...that file you requested." he stuttered.

The Grand Matriarch's eyebrows went up and she shook her head every-so-slightly from side to side as if to say, _why isn't it in my hand already?_

The petitioner reached out and placed the rectangular piece of display crystal on her desk, pulling his hand back twice as quickly as he had extended it. Her department often used these to prevent long term evidence of their activities from accumulating. The Grand Matriarch picked up the display crystal and tapped it lightly to ensure the incompetent fool had not brought her the wrong file, but no. The title told her it was exactly the information she was looking for.

 _Basil Rathbone_

* * *

"Look it's not complicated!" Ruby lectured her sister, "No sex in our dorm! Ever!"

Blake sighed and put her novel down. Apparently the rule was 'no sex' _and_ 'no reading' as well. Not that their shared dorm had ever been an easy place to concentrate.

"Look, Ruby I get it. You're still squicked out by the whole 'sex' thing but that doesn't mean we have to stop just because you're not comfortable with it."

Blake glanced over at Ruby who looked offended. She crinkled her nose and frowned.

"I am _not_ squicked out by sex! Ask Blake! I toured a whole sex dungeon! All _you_ did was defile our dorm room!"

Yang tensed, and Blake could smell fear. Something wasn't right. The conversation they were having made Yang nervous but she kept forcing it to continue. Instead of apologizing, she fought back. Blake decided to go fishing.

"What aren't you telling us, Yang?" Blake asked.

Yang's fear signals spiked through the roof.

"Right, like you always tell us everything…" Yang deflected.

Just as she spoke, Weiss stepped into the dorm room. Blake could smell the scent of Jaune on her, but not Pyrrha, which was odd. She could also smell wet hair and Weiss's shampoo which just barely failed to cover the scent of sex. Not that she needed any of those smells. Not with the big, dumb grin Weiss was wearing.

"Back me up here, Weiss. No sex in our room, that's not a crazy rule to have, right?" Ruby asked.

"Stop being such a little kid!" Yang demanded.

"Or…" Weiss interjected, looking at Yang, "you can simply tell us what it is you really want to talk about."

Another person would have needed to be caught up on the conversation before participating in it effectively, but not Weiss Schnee.

Yang paused but then added, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Blake gave up and joined the conversation, "You haven't given a cogent argument against the rule Ruby suggested, a completely reasonable rule at that. You also haven't let the argument drop."

Weiss jumped in, "You're not the type of person who can't admit when you're wrong. And if you're having sex in _our room_ then you're clearly in the wrong."

"You're also afraid." Blake continued, "But you're not running away from the conversation. So obviously you want something out of this discussion but you don't want to bring it up yourself."

Ruby's eyes widened slightly and she fixed her sister in what struck Blake as an almost predatory stare.

"Is this about…" Ruby's eyes darted side to side, "you-know-who?"

Yang's face turned three shades of red. And Blake smelled just the slightest hint of desire, but Weiss acted first.

"Well….I _would_ say that who you take to bed is your own business, but clearly, you want that information dragged out of you kicking and screaming. So spill it before I report this flagrant violation of school policy to the Resident Advisor."

Yang put her hands in her pocket and kicked over a nearby chair and groaned, "God I hate it when you're right…"

"Doesn't everyone?" Weiss replied with a smile and a cute single-shoulder shrug.

Yang sat down on her bed, since the chair was no longer an option. She looked at her knees and took a breath.

"It was..Coco. I had sex with Coco." she said finally.

Silence filled the room for several moments, before Weiss finally broke it.

"And?"

Yang looked up in confusion, but Blake was starting to put the pieces together.

"You've never had sex with another girl before?" she asked.

"No!" Yang replied a bit too quickly.

"I…" Weiss began tentatively, "I'm not trying to be insensitive here but...I'm failing to see what you're so worked up about. Coco's reasonably attractive if you're into that whole thing. Did she not call you after?"

Yang looked up at Weiss but laughed in spite of herself, if a bit nervously, "Actually...she did call me. I haven't talked to her though. I don't know what to say."

Blake sighed, "Listen, Yang. I appreciate that you're going through something of an identity crisis here, and we're all here to support you, but you shouldn't make Coco suffer because of _your_ insecurities."

Ruby turned a confused and accusatory eye towards Blake.

"I mean...unless she specifically agrees to something like that…" Blake added, blushing slightly.

Yang sat there, and another moment of silence passed.

"I really thought you guys would see me differently. It feels like this should be a much bigger deal." Yang finally spoke.

Weiss took a breath and huffed, "Would it help if I talk about all the freaky things Pyrrha's made me do to Jaune in the last week?"

"NO!" the three remaining girls said in chorus.

"Not even a little?" Weiss pouted and then sighed,

Blake couldn't hold it back any longer. Her friend needed her to open up.

"I know what it's like when you realize you aren't who you thought you were, but this isn't as big a deal as it seems." Blake took a breath, "Do you want to see her again?"

Yang looked up at Blake, a mask of shock on her face, "I...didn't even think about that."

"Do you _like_ her?" Ruby asked.

"I...I didn't think about that either…" Yang confessed.

"Blake is right." Weiss added with her classic pointed index finger at the end of a flipped wrist that looked like she was daintily pressing an elevator button, "You _are_ being selfish. Go find Coco and at least explain to her why you've been avoiding her. Then...if in the process of doing so, you wind up naked, you'll have your answers."

Yang looked up at Weiss. A smile crept onto her face. Then a giggle. Then a laugh. Then a belly laugh. Ruby joined her. Even Blake cracked a smile.

"Thanks you guys." Yang pulled Ruby into a hug. Weiss even joined of her own free will. Blake smiled from a distance.

"I'm gonna go find her. I hope she's not mad at me." Yang told the group.

They didn't see her again until morning.

* * *

Winter Schnee smoothed out her business suit nervously. Once upon a time she'd had a serious ambition of joining the Atlas military. Silly really. She should have known, even then, that Mother already had plans for her life. Those plans had not included a military career. Or a life of her own. Or love.

"The prisoner will be here in a moment," the police officer informed her. He was probably on Mother's payroll. Dragging this out was just her style. Winter took a deep breath and took in the room. Typical of the police, it was a plain room with single metal table and what everyone knew was a two-way mirror on one wall, so the police could observe interrogations anonymously. Was Mother on the other side of that mirror?

Winter's scroll beeped, alerting her to text message. Mother.

 _You have five minutes. Less if you cry. Displays of weakness are unbecoming of a Schnee._

Winter put her scroll away. It didn't surprise her that Mother was watching. She controlled everything. In her weaker moments she found herself wondering if Mother made the sun rise and the tides go in and out.

Then he was there. The man she loved, being dragged into the room by some anonymous police officer. Something deep within Winter sparked with electricity. Her instincts told her to cut the hands off the ruffian who had dared manhandle her love, but she knew he was doing it on orders. Mother still making her point. The police officer shoved Winter's love into the room and he lost his balance, barely catching himself on the table rather than hitting the floor.

Qrow looked up at Winter, his right eye had been blackened and he had bruises all along his arms and who knew where else that Winter couldn't see. Qrow pulled himself into the chair he'd landed next to and slumped into it.

"Hey babe, " Qrow began, "you doin' alright?"

Winter hesitated, "Please don't...She's watching. If I cry…"

"I know she's watching. Bitch is always watching. What did you do to get her panties in a wad this time? Help an old lady cross the street?"

Winter laughed in spite of herself...in spite of her lover's predicament. He'd been the only person she'd ever known who could do that.

"It wasn't me this time." Winter whispered, "Weiss...defied her. And of course, with Weiss on Ruby's team…"

"Hostage bank shot. Yeah. Just her style. You never know where the pain is gonna come from. Tell me again why we haven't killed that bitch yet?" Qrow asked, and Winter knew he was serious.

"Because we would fail. And the consequences would be unimaginable. Whatever Weiss has done, I will correct. Once that is accomplished she's promised to have the charges against you dropped." Winter explained.

Qrow sighed and shook his head, "You can't keep living your life like this. I can survive this. Ozpin can't afford to let me stay in here for very long."

Winter's scroll beeped again. Another text message. Qrow's face twisted into a sneer at the window just as Winter's fell into a blend of fear and hopelessness. Winter didn't check her scroll.

Before Winter could stop him, Qrow stood up and faced the window, "I _swear to God_ , someday I will rip your black heart from your chest and feed it to you, you Grimm-fracking _whore_."

Which, of course, led to the police coming back. Qrow spared Winter the pain of watching him fail to resist them in front of her and they escorted him out with only a few coarse shoves, although once they were out of her direct line of sight she heard, quite clearly, the sound of the officers begin to beat him.

Winter bowed her head in the empty room and began to shake, though she kept herself from collapsing into tears. Mother punished tears. Still, Winter couldn't bring herself to leave before the beating was over. She couldn't abandon the man she loved, even if she couldn't save him.

After it was over she picked herself up and drifted out of the police station, half-conscious. There could be no freedom from Mother, only freedom _through_ her. Only the allowances She made. Winter found her way to her car and said something to her chauffeur, though she didn't remember what. And then she remembered Mother's final message. The text She'd sent in response to Qrow's proposition of defiance. Part of Winter didn't want to know what it said, but she was too afraid to ignore it, so she removed her scroll and checked, but there was no message. Just a file. A statistical study actually.

Prison-rape statistics.


	6. Bonus Footage 3

Author's Note: Part of the reason for my hiatus has been a prevailing fear on my part. When I first set out to write this story, it was with the intention of countering 50 Shades of Gray with real information and realistic characters. But I ran into a problem. One of the more pernicious and pervasive myths about kinksters (practitioners of BDSM) is that we are the way we are as a result of trauma, especially childhood sexual abuse. The truth is that there is no correlation between experiencing trauma and having sexual kinks. No correlation is not the same as reverse correlation however, and most people do not live lives free from bad things happening to them. Furthermore, I wanted to portray a dominant sadist who was strictly bound by consent ethics and as nonthreatening as possible. On top of that, characters who have no problems and no internal conflict are not good story characters, especially when they hold the spotlight.

This is how the character of Basil Rathbone was born, but ever since I posted this story I began to worry more and more that I had failed. I wanted to draw a line between BDSM (especially consensual sadomasochism) and real abuse. I wanted to make that line ten feet tall and made of white fire. But I am not perfect, neither am I the world's leading expert of kink culture and sexual ethics. Still I doubt whatever failures I may have made (or will make in the future) are as bad as my pessimism tells me they are. For those who may be reading this who are more knowledgeable than I am, please know that this was a good faith effort to create a real life conversation piece that could be useful to people. I hope that this story will allow for a dialogue between kinksters and their friends and family or just help people just discovering their kinks who need to put their thoughts in order. I can personally attest to the moral horror of being someone who is otherwise kind and caring for people who discovered deeply sadistic tendencies within himself. I lived with an incredibly deep shame for many, many years before I discovered BDSM, and I know that those with masochistic or submissive kinks often suffer similarly, though I don't have first hand experience.

If you are just beginning to discover these sorts of things about yourself, please know that there is nothing wrong with you. And while it _is_ possible for your desires to lead you into dangerous territory, such is true for everyone. I encourage all such people to connect with other kinksters whether online or in person (look for a local Munch). And for those with friends or loved ones who might be kinksters, try to keep an open mind. If you're worried, I encourage you to learn about BDSM yourself. Knowledge is the first defense against fear and by extension bigotry. Who knows? Perhaps you'll find yourself a playmate one day that wants to try something you might otherwise find odd, but might be more comfortable with after having educated yourself. Your playmate might not even be aware of kinkster culture and ethics (such as my version of Pyrrha) and might benefit from your knowledge.

Finally, just in case I missed anything, I've tried to keep all of the real-world applicable information as correct as possible both about BDSM and real abuse (which will be explored soon) but I am, at best, an educated amature, and this story should not be seen as a textbook and is no substitute for the advice of a real expert. Thank you for taking an interest in my work, and I hope you enjoy. You may expect new chapters more regularly now, but till then, please accept this vignette as my mea culpa.

* * *

[From the Diary of Ruby Rose]

Dear Diary,

Everything I thought was weird is starting to seem normal. Does that mean I'm weird? Or should I care? Or was everything I ever thought before silly and wrong? I don't know. I always wanted to be a stronger fighter and I still do! But, well...I've been talking to Jaune a little ever since I worked up the courage to be in the same room with him. The things he tells me about Pyrrha make me sad. He doesn't say too much really, it's just how he talks about her. I never would have guessed she was so sad and lonely. I guess it should have been obvious that Weiss was lonely, but it wasn't. I don't know if I'm becoming a super-wise-living-on-a-mountain-guru or if I just didn't know anything and learning these things are just part of becoming an adult…

...maybe I should listen to my teachers more.

But it's really Pyrrha that's made me think. I hate dances and meeting new people scares me most of the time. All those things girls are supposed to be good that Weiss does like it was as easy as breathing like small talk and fashion were always just a chore I've always taken having friends for granted. I mean, I don't take my actual friends for granted, but I kinda always just figured that would happen on its own. I guess what I mean is, I've put a lot of work into being a good fighter, but I haven't put a lot of work into being friendly. I wanted to be strong, you know? But dad told me something a long time ago. Something I didn't understand at the time, but now I'm starting to.

There is no victory in strength.


	7. Chapter 4

**Author's Notes:**

Once again I feel the need to make a disclaimer. I am not an expert on anything. I am not a mental health professional, a therapist, or an authority on _anything_. I am simply someone looking to raise awareness about a number of issues. That said, just as with previous chapters, most of the information is as real as I could make it. The "Dark Triad" is a real thing. "Gas Lighting" is a real thing. Please try to remember that you live in a world that includes Narcissists and Sociopaths, and the only defense against them is enough education to recognize one when you see them. If you are tempted to believe that this threat is too rare to take seriously, then ask yourself if any of their victims ever thought the same. Google is your friend.

And now, the Soundtrack! (Because why the hell not?) The following are all for youtube:

C3lWwBslWqg (character theme for Basil Rathbone. _Desert Rose_ by Sting)

4G6QDNC4jPs (Blake Belladonna _Everytime we touch_ Cascada)

weRHyjj34ZE (Pyrrha Nikos _Whenever Wherever_ Shakira)

U5rLz5AZBIA (Weiss Schnee _The Way I Are_ Timbaland)

XPpTgCho5ZA (Jaune Arc _This Love_ Maroon 5)

prL0BIqH5eU (Jauney Cage _Johnny Cage theme_ Mortal Kombat soundtrack)

T6wbugWrfLU (Ruby Rose _That's the way it is_ Celine Dione)

CdhqVtpR2ts (Winter Schnee _Going Under_ Evanescence)

Rl6fyhZ0G5E (Adam Taurus _Personal Jesus_ Marilyn Manson)

FWSPHu53IXc (Arnalda Schnee _Meet Your Master_ Nine Inch Nails)

* * *

Weiss couldn't remember the last time she was this nervous. Her date with Jaune hadn't counted. Part of that had been uncomfortable, but at no point was she worried about the outcome. This was different.

Jaune and Pyrrha had agreed to meet Weiss in a largely unused classroom. She had selected a smaller room, probably only enough space for 20 or 30 students. Weiss stood at the front, where a teacher might stand, her scroll keyed into room's projector system. Once Jaune and Pyrrha had seated themselves, Weiss passed out a pair of three ring binders with a copy of her presentation.

"Thank you for coming, " she fell back onto her etiquette training any time she was anxious.

"So...what's this all about, Weiss?" Jaune prompted her.

"Well…" Weiss began, "as you may recall, we had a conversation about how you might benefit from my expertise in addition to Pyrrha's combat training."

Pyrrha interjected, "You mean the Schnee family combat form?"

Weiss shook her head, "Not exactly. Too much of that style is based on our sigils which a non-Schnee wouldn't be able to learn. But there's another expertise that's almost as valuable."

Weiss pressed a button on her scroll and brought the projector to life. The screen read, "The effects of Marketing on Combat - how psychosocial warfare rules the battlefield"

The young heiress had stayed up late consulting Mother's books. Not books her mother had _written_ or books she'd merely selected through purchase. No, Mother had filled her private library with books she'd _commissioned_ and then failed to have published. That's what real wealth looked like. Having an overabundance of shiny toys and fashionable clothes stunk of the garish nouveau riche (especially if you acted like they _mattered_ ). When you had _actual_ money, you bought things others couldn't get their hands on because they were entirely unique. You had things like your own R &D department. And _this_ presentation came straight out of _Psychotherapy, Weaponized (third edition) -_ a book Mother had given her on her 8th birthday for managing to humiliate a 40 year-old employee with her words to such a degree that he literally burst into tears and quit his job on the spot. Mother had been so proud of her that day.

Of course she had toned down a great deal of that book's lessons, but the principles still held.

"Please turn to page 3," Weiss requested, "As you can see by examining the profiles I've constructed, both Pyrrha and I benefit greatly from people's _expectations_ of what they will face when fight us." Weiss took the other two line by line through the social implications of their behaviors.

Pyrrha's eyes widened, "I...I had no idea that keeping my Semblance use so subtle made people believe I was fated for victory…I was trying to be gentle."

"That's also on the list. Item 17 I think? Being gentle outside of combat just reinforces the idea that you could break them _on accident_ if you aren't careful." Weiss explained. Her mouth had moved on automatic before she realized what she'd said. Mother would have called Pyrrha's behavior a 'natural talent' but Pyrrha's look of helplessness made clear the mistake she'd made.

Jaune placed a hand on her shoulder without even needing to lift his eyes from the binder, and Pyrrha leaned her head in his direction to feel his touch on her face. Something inside Weiss warmed at the sight of it. She changed the subject.

"Of course building up Jaune's brand as a fighter will take more than just an improvement in his ability. People don't change their expectations easily, even when they should." Weiss continued.

Jaune raised his hand, "I'm…not so sure I'm comfortable with this, Weiss. Somehow I get the idea you're talking about more than just a change of clothes…"

Weiss hesitated. Her books had given her no instructions on how to back off and let people make their own decisions. She was flying blind.

"I'm...not going to pressure you into making any decisions you don't want to make. I only ask that you keep an open mind.." Weiss said, finally.

Jaune blew an anxious breath through his lips and nodded. At least Weiss wasn't the only one who was nervous.

She continued the lecture, "One of the basic principles in persuasion, whether mass marketing or in a personal conversation, is to build off people's existing ideas, perceptions, and beliefs. Even if those connection's aren't rational, they're often inroads into people's minds"

"If you'll turn to page 12…" Weiss incremented the projector to the next slide, and a three dimensional pie graph representing the core elements of Jaune's reputation dominated the screen. It had been raised into mountains in places and lowered into inverted mountains in others and color-coded by the mental flexibility of the targets with regard to those mental images.

"Jaune's image, like any other, is filled with peaks and valleys. He's honest and kind and friendly, but he's also not taken seriously - as an opponent or otherwise. Fortunately, he has a very new peak that is causing people to take him much more seriously than they did before which will open their minds to reevaluation in other areas."

Jaune's head nearly hit the desk in front of him but his hand caught his forehead, "Not the sex-god thing, again."

Pyrrha eyed Weiss curiously, and Weiss did her best to ease into the topic, "Well...sort of. Actually this could solve two problems at once. You'd rather have people respect you for your fighting prowess than for your sexual prowess, right?"

Jaune raised his head and looked at Weiss cautiously, "Um...yes?"

"Well, I can't make any guarantees, but I do know that we can build up your fighting image by borrowing from your sexual image." Weiss replied.

"Really?" Jaune asked.

"How?" Pyrrha added for him.

"Please turn to page 13," Weiss instructed them, "Jaune's... _new_ reputation comes largely from two main elements. The first is him being in a relationship with more than two people in it. I've labeled that aspect, 'the poly element'. The second aspect is our collars, which I've labeled, 'the bondage element'."

Weiss began to pace. It was a simple tactic that let you transform nervous energy into a form of intelligence signaling, and it helped enormously .

"Taking these elements one at a time, the poly element is easiest to make use of. Jaune uses a sword and shield, but if he were to switch to a two sword style…"

Pyrrha leaned back and smiled. She got it immediately, but Jaune was still waiting for her to continue.

"...most people, whether they are conscious of it or not will make the two-girls-two-swords connection. In their minds you will have brought your sex-god-competence and made it into fighting-god-competence."

Jaune grabbed his chin and ruffled his brow. At least he was thinking about it.

"And the um…" Jaune asked finally, "...bondage element?"

Weiss smiled. This was it, "Well...this reference needs to be subtle - or at least indirect. The less conscious people are of the connection the less they'll be able to confront it rationally. But it also needs to be powerful. You need to be a different person in their eyes. And if you're a different person, you need a different name..."

She pressed a button on her scroll and the screen incremented again. Weiss had spent hours on this slide alone. She would have asked Pyrrha for help, but Pyrrha didn't have the expertise for this sort of work. Weiss had examined the fashion choices of models, world renown fighters, movie stars, and everything in between. She'd landed on combat-casual-chic, in deference to Jaune's preferred relaxed look, but blended it with nonchalant-rugged-elegance and some understated wealth-signaling for good measure. By the end though, Weiss couldn't help but indulge herself a little. Jaune looked hot in sunglasses.

Below the image laid the caption, "Jauney Cage"

Pyrrha raised a hand to her mouth and giggleled. In a past that was not so distant as it seemed, Jaune might have been embarrassed by that laughter, but now he simply ignored it. To the right of the computer-generated version of Jaune, Weiss had listed out a number of tactics that both used and reinforced this image.

"Always flirt in combat?" Jaune asked, not hiding his surprise.

Weiss nodded, "Of course. It's a powerful way of demonstrating that you aren't intimidated. That forces them you think about in that light, whether they're interested in you or not, and brings attention to back to your sexual image, especially since Pyrrha will be right next to you. Most of the time it will enrage your opponent, but that will just make them make mistakes. If it _embarrasses_ them...well that's even better."

"What if it's a guy?" Jaune asked.

Weiss shrugged, "Well if you think they're _vulnerable_ to that kind of tactic you can still do it. Otherwise, just act very friendly. Offer to introduce them a girl or get something to eat after the fight. The point is to demonstrate that you don't take the fight too seriously."

Jaune took a deep breath, "Weiss, I know you put a lot of work into this. And I promise I'll think about it, but I just don't - "

The sound system in the small classroom blared to life with music, interrupting him, " _Jauney Cage is not afraid to die!_ "

Weiss scrambled for her scroll and muted the presentation.

"Sorry! I um...I may have commissioned a theme song…." Weiss said while blushing and averting her eyes.

Their was a silence in the room. And then Pyrrha erupted into laughter, followed shortly by Jaune, and then Weiss. Then Jaune stood up and approached her. He put a hand on her chin and gently turned her gaze to his.

"Look, I've got not idea if any of this is a good idea or not. But I know you did all this for me. So thank you." he said and then kissed her. Pyrrha put a hand to her mouth to cover the swooning noise that came out.

Weiss basked in the moment but then another memory returned to her. She pulled away.

"I...I promise I wasn't trying to pressure you into any of this, but I _did_ commission one other item."

Jaune and Pyrrha said nothing as Weiss retrieved a long thin case from the other side of the room. She presented it to Jaune, undid the pair of latches and pulled it open into an 'L' shape. Inside laid a sword done in the same overall style as Myrtenaster, Weiss's own rapier. This was a longsword however, though it retained the same revolving chamber as Weiss's blade for the use of raw dust in combat.

And it probably could have paid for Jaune's parent's house.

"Oh Weiss, I…" Jaune began, but Weiss interrupted him.

"Please don't say it." Weiss looked away again, "Not if it's about money. You've let Pyrrha train you. Let me give you _something_. Even if it's only this."

Jaune looked at her, his brow ruffled slightly, but at least this time he seemed to half-understand. Weiss knew Jaune wouldn't quite understand _why_ any of this meant so much to her, but by now he knew when something was important. He nodded.

"Thank you, Weiss." Jaune told her. He took a breath and then added, "You may want to get those lyrics changed though...cause I'm _totally_ afraid to die."

The three of the shared a laugh, until their scrolls began to beep insistently.

* * *

Blake's eyes went wide. Her trademark stoicism, that had carried her through so many trials and tribulations crumbled under the weight of the five words that Basil had been forced to share with her. Not that he had had any choice. Another man might have hid those words from her, tried to protect her from them, but that would have been irresponsible at best and dangerous at worst. Hadn't they always known this day might come? Hadn't they been preparing for it since the moment they fell in love? And yet the reality of it burned. It made a hollow mockery of the life she'd built for herself.

It would be okay, she tried to tell herself. She wasn't alone anymore.

"Call Ruby," Blake said, holding herself as she shook, "call _everyone_!"

"I already have," came Basil's calming reply. His scent was strange in that moment. She knew that scent, but never on Basil. It was the musk of a warrior before battle.

"Basil, you know you can't - " Blake began, but Basil interrupted her.

"I'm not a fool, Blake. If anything, I'm a coward. I know my limitations. But I'd never allow what happened to you to happen again. I'd burn the world first."

Blake threw herself into his arms and erupted into such a display of tears and sobs and cries of fear that it would have made the world's most terrified child stop and count his blessings. Basil only held her.

And so distraught was Blake, that she completely failed to notice the scent of murderous intent that began to fill the room.

 _Adam is coming for you_

* * *

Weiss and Ruby lead the rest of their friends through the streets to abandoned part of town where Basil had made his home. The text message he'd sent to all of RWBY and JNPR had been rather ominous.

 _Blake needs her friends. Now_.

Any requests for clarification were met with repeated requests that they hurry. Weiss looked on as Ruby knocked on the door to Basil's warehouse. Blake answered almost immediately, but her somber expression and red eyes stood in stark contrast to the last time Ruby and Weiss had visited. No one said a word as Blake lead them through the office area, though when they reached what had once been the Foyer, Weiss couldn't help but notice that all the toys had been taken off of the wall.

"What happened here?" Weiss asked, without thinking.

Blake squirmed slightly, but didn't break stride, "It's...probably not what you think."

She then led her friends through the door, which now lacked the plaque announcing their commitment to the Safe, Sane, and Consensual principles, and down the stairs.

The Proving Ground was no more. In its place dozens of robots of all sizes bustled around doing various construction tasks. The cage in the center had been replaced with 8 large cylindrical objects, perhaps 2 meters tall and each covered in a thick, cream colored canvas. They stood in two rows of four, while Basil worked on a large, egg shaped pod at the far end which was maybe four meters high. He was wearing a three meter tall exoskeleton, black goggles and appeared to be in the process welding something, even as the seven guests walked up the middle of the mystery cylinders. Ruby had led the way behind Blake and when Basil saw her he immediately popped out of his exosuit, threw off his goggles and hugged her. Weiss looked to Blake, but she didn't seem to take notice of it.

"Thank you for coming, Ruby." then Basil turned to Pyrrha and bowed, "And of course, madam Kaiju, it's an honor to have you in my home."

Blake seemed to forget whatever had been bothering her as her gaze jerked up to Basil and then Pyrrha, "Wait, that was _her_?"

Basil looked back and smiled, "Of course. Who else do you know of your own age that could claim _that_ title?"

All eyes turned to Pyrrha, who wilted under the attention with an awkward smile. Of everyone here only Jaune and Weiss would have understood why. Weiss glanced back at Basil to see if he noticed, and his confusion told her he had.

"But perhaps that's a story for another time." Basil retreated.

"No no, " Blake insisted, "you should explain it to them."

Basil wrinkled his brow and tightened his lips as he looked back at Blake. Weiss concluded immediately that Basil had figured out that this would make Pyrrha uncomfortable, but Blake probably wanted to avoid whatever was bothering her as long as she could. All this time and Blake hadn't stopped running.

Basil turned back to Pyrrha, "With your permission, of course."

Pyrrha shrugged awkwardly, "It's fine. It's a silly story anyway,"

Basil's eyes widened, but Weiss could see in his eyes that he'd made the choice not to judge.

Their host took a deep breath, as if to begin a long story, "It all goes back to Faunus traditions. In general, we tend to eschew creating our own schools - though obviously many of us still make the choice to attend human institutions or even teach in one. But in most cases, when Faunus train one another, it is through an apprenticeship. This is especially true of combat training. Obviously the rather intimate nature of this arrangement prevents young Faunus from developing a reputation. And so, every 5 years Faunus elders hold a martial arts tournament called a 'Kumite'. Humans are not explicitly forbidden from participating in these tournaments, but they _are_ by invitation only and are mostly unknown outside Faunus circles."

Pyrrha finally found her voice, "My...father was a friend of the Faunus for many years. He even spent a number of summers living with them growing up. So when one of his closest friends became one of the three judges...they sent _me_ an invitation to participate."

Ruby looked to Blake, "Did you not get invited?"

Blake's fist tightened at her side, "I did actually. My mentor...didn't think I was ready."

Basil turned to Blake, "You _must_ know by now that that wasn't his reason."

Blake winced but said nothing. Weiss clearly wasn't the only one to notice how much pain she was in, as it was Ruby who turned back to Basil and changed the subject.

"So...is 'Kaiju' what they call you when you win the tournament?" Ruby asked.

Basil laughed. It wasn't a chuckled either. It was a full blown belly laugh.

"Oh no. Those who merely win the tournament are only honored with the term, 'Bushisama' which translates - roughly speaking of course - to Great Warrior. However, those victors are given the right to select one of the judges for one on one combat. Those rare few who succeed in defeating one of the judges earns the title, 'Budokayasha' or 'God of Fighting'. They also are given the right to fight _another_ judge. If by some miracle, they defeat all three judges, they gain the title of 'Tatsu' or Dragon"

Ruby made the connection first, "But wait...how do you become a Kaiju then?"

Basil smiled, "Occasionally a warrior will win the tournament who, while possessing great talent, lacks the desire to challenge the judges themselves. If the judges feel that this fighter has underestimated herself, then the three of them will _all_ attack her _at once_. As you might imagine these attacks are vanishingly rare, and exist largely as a deterrent against cowardice. But for the miniscule number of elite warriors who defeat all three judges simultaneously...their names are carved onto the Tree of Souls with the legends of Faunus history and are forever known as 'Kaiju'. This is a very hard word to translate of course, but perhaps the best translation is..."

Jaune of all people interrupted, "World-Destroying-God-Monster." he said as if he'd just figured out the answer to some sort of riddle.

Jaune had already put his hand around Pyrrha's waist and pulled her to him. Pyrrha, for her part, seemed to be doing her best to keep from looking uncomfortable, but the pensive look on Basil's face told Weiss he had seen through it.

"It... _is of course_ the highest of praise." Basil offered, "but...I understand if it's also something of a burden. "

Pyrrha smiled weakly, "You're very kind, Mr Rathbone, but haven't we gotten a little distracted? You said that Blake needed us."

Basil nodded, "Blake and I both." he took a breath as if he wasn't sure how to begin, but then he reached up and snapped his fingers twice. In response, a group of robots brought them chairs to sit in, arranged in a half circle facing Basil and Blake who sat together on a bench provided immediately after. Once everyone was seated, Basil continued.

"For you to fully understand the context of what we will ask you, there are a number of things I must explain. First, I should ask. Are any of you familiar with the Dark Triad?"

"Is...that a band?" Jaune asked immediately.

Weiss watched as Basil's face contorted in annoyance...but then shifted as if reconsidering and grabbed his chin, "Actually that wouldn't be bad band name come to think of it...perhaps in the Death Metal genre..." Basil lowered his hand and shook his head as if to clear it, "In any case, no. In this context it does not refer to a group of individuals but rather a collection of mental disorders which are especially dangerous individually and which multiply each other when they all occur in the same person. Machiavellianism, is probably the least dangerous of the three and implies a natural proclivity towards manipulation and deceit in order to work one's will on the people around them."

Weiss swallowed hard. Her mind wanted to go somewhere, to remind her of something, but she instinctively flinched away.

Basil continued, "Psychopathy, or sociopathy as it is sometimes referred to, is characterized by a complete lack of empathy towards other individuals often resulting in a general disdain for common moral guidelines - a tendency mental health professionals refer to as, 'antisocial behavior'. In this context however, it does not refer to social awkwardness or introvertedness but rather behaviors which actively harm the wellbeing of others."

Weiss noticed the temperature of the room had suddenly dropped about twenty degrees...or was it just her?

"Finally, " Basil concluded, "Narcissism...which is much harder than the other two to sum up in a few sentences. There is a vernacular sense in which the term is used on individuals who seem to have an overly large ego or over inflated estimate of their own worth or abilities. But that is usually simple arrogance. True Narcissism is a cartoonishly large expansion of everyday egoism, to the point where other people hardly seem real or of any value whatsoever outside their usefulness to the Narcissist. One can see how much more dangerous this becomes when combined with psychopathy and machiavellianism. Far more so when such a person has access to significant resources."

Weiss couldn't ignore it anymore. The picture had become too clear to keep herself from seeing it.

Mother.

"Why are you telling us this?" Weiss asked before she even realized the words were out of her mouth.

Basil and Blake looked at each other and then back to the group. Basil replied, "Because Blake's former lover, Adam Taurus, seems to me to meet these criteria. "

Weiss hesitated for a moment. She chastised herself internally for thinking that any of this could have anything to do with Mother, but then the _other_ obvious realization slapped her in the face - and not in a fun way.

"The leader of the White Fang is your ex-boyfriend?" the heiress blurted out, while jumping to her feet.

Of course, with the exception of the Blake, Basil and Weiss, none of the others had any reason to know that much about the White Fang or its leadership, but Weiss had seen the reports. Slowly, Weiss began to realize the insensitivity of her outburst. Adam Taurus was not your normal, everyday brutal killer. Hell, he was the main reason Weiss had come to Beacon filled with ideas of Faunus barbarism. Schnee company employees had a betting pool over whether or not Taurus was a Grimm disguised as a Faunus or not. People were actually _putting money on it_.

But it was too late. Blake's slowly began to crumple into herself.

Blake's voice came out as little more than a whimper, "I'm...I'm sorry. I know I promised not to keep any more secrets, but I honestly thought that part of my life was over. I thought I'd escaped him."

Basil put his arm around her and pulled her close. Blake snuggled into his embrace in true feline fashion.

No one spoke.

"Gosh Blake," Jaune finally broke the silence, "I'm so sorry that happened to you. I mean...I know what you and Basil do for fun. I can't even imagine the things...what he must have..."

Weiss noticed the quick gesture Blake often made when she was trying not to roll her eyes. She could also see Basil tense, so it was no surprise when Blake was the one who responded, first by sighing and then by shaking her head.

"It's nothing like that. Adam isn't a sadist like Basil..." Blake began, and Weiss noticed Basil tense further, freezing like a statue, "he never laid a hand on me like that. He wouldn't even spar with me - even after he took me as his apprentice. He said...he said I needed to be a hundred times better before it would be worth his time to draw his sword."

That broke Basil out of his trance, "I think it rather more likely he feared you would see how little you had to learn from him. Just as, if he'd let you participate in Kumite, you would have seen how talented you really were."

Blake looked away from Basil. Weiss recognized the expression on her Faunus sister quite well by now. Blake _wanted_ to believe, but she couldn't. Not yet.

"...sorry, I just." Jaune began. Weiss knew what he was about to ask. Everyone else had already thought it. Jaune was just the only one to say it out loud.

"Then what did he...?" Jaune tried to finish.

Basil answered for her, "The term is 'Gas Lighting' and it is the first and favorite weapon of every Narcissist. It is a form of violence done through words alone to tear apart the very sanity of the victim, leaving them without any ability to value themselves and thus hopelessly dependent on their abuser. It is expert tutelage in the arts of self-hatred and madness and is rightly considered a form of torture."

Weiss struggled to put away thoughts of her mother - a truly herculean effort, but she did it. She knew better than any of Blake's other friends just what this man had done to her.

"That's not the only reason you called us, is it?" Ruby interjected. Weiss had almost forgotten anyone else was in the room, but as she now regarded Ruby, the young leader had a fierce expression. Weiss wasn't accustomed to seeing that expression on her team leader outside fights against the Grimm. And usually when she saw it, something was about to die.

"Adam is coming. Here. For Blake," Basil replied.

"How did you find _that_ out?" Yang asked immediately.

Basil sighed, "My sources in the White Fang have alerted me as such. Adam is coming to the Beacon area to meet with local cell leaders and decided that he would 'drop by'. Undoubtedly he plans to ruin Blake's attempt to make a life without him. Though how he came to know of her whereabouts is still a mystery to me."

Basil had informants inside the White Fang? How was _that_ possible? Weiss's parents had expended literally _millions_ of lien to try to establish reliable source of information within the White Fang to no avail. How could _he_ have succeeded where they failed?

" _Basil!_ " Ruby nearly shrieked, "you can't sell weapons to terrorists! You'll get in _trouble_."

Weiss blinked. That answered her question quite succinctly actually. Basil was a Faunus, and he had a family history that made his cooperation with the White Fang entirely believable, and he had the ability to provide them with something they sorely needed. Hell, he might not even have come to _them_ initially. _They_ might have approached _him_. Though that didn't explain how Ruby had gotten it so quickly. Did her Semblance work on her brain?

Basil smiled, "I'm afraid I don't know what your talking about, my dear Ruby. But if I _were_ involved in such a scheme, it would be for the protection of the one I love. A scheme which, I'll note, _worked_. Which brings us to the next topic of discussion."

Basil reached up and snapped his fingers three times, and from out of site, a collection of robots pulled the drop cloths from the pillar-like mystery objects surrounding them. They were display cases. Each one contained a set of armor and a strikingly familiar collection of weapons. The armors though mostly black, had trims in a suspiciously familiar set of colors. The row on the left were red, black, white and yellow. The row on the right were off-white, pink, bronze and green.

Most of team RWBY and team JNPR left their seats to fawn over the collection. Most of the weapons were noticeably different from the ones they used. Basil stood up and walked towards the case that had obviously been intended for Ruby.

"I started this one before I received the dire news about Adam's return." he pulled the black scythe from the case, "It is not intended to replace Crescent Rose of course, but it struck me that your weapon is somewhat better suited for use against Grimm than other fighters."

Weiss moved in closer and examined the new scythe as everyone else took the opportunity to discuss what they'd just learned amongst themselves. Ruby's weapon had always been an exercise in functionality. This new weapon was a work of art - the horror genre to be specific. It was solid black, with a serrated edge and whose teeth were longer than they needed to be. The flat of the blade had melted faces frozen in silent screams of pain or terror embossed into it, all while managing to somehow be delicate - almost frail. Like the Grim Reaper herself. Basil pointed out that this new weapon lacked an integrated firearm, but could dispense various toxic chemicals or tranquilizers.

"I call it Funeral Rose. And I do hope it meets with your approval." Basil concluded confidently.

Ruby apparently, never met a weapon she didn't like. After hugging it, petting it, and just barely managing not to drool, she folded it up and put in on her belt immediately.

"So..." Ruby began, "What happened to The Proving Ground?"

Basil winced, "It was based on a...misconception. I'm in the process of designing something new for Blake and I. Something more tasteful. Something that will meet _both_ our needs."

Weiss took the opportunity to slip into the conversation, "Have you thought of a name yet?"

Basil winced again, "I...think that I'm done with cliches for a while."

" _Basil_..." Ruby said as if she were warning a misbehaving dog.

Basil looked up at her, almost worried, "I just...I..."

" _Stop it!_ " Ruby said again, still in the tone of a dog trainer. She even shoved an angry index finger in his direction.

Something clicked in Weiss's mind. One of the most well researched and most interesting books in her mother's collection has spoken about something called, "Ugh-fields" - places the mind wouldn't go out of fear of predicted pain. The last time Basil and Ruby had been together in his room, Ruby had responded to Basil's shame and self-hate by pretending to murder the half of him that was attacking the rest. And now here she was, treating him like a dog that was about to be punished for misbehavior. Without having any formal understanding of what she was doing, Ruby was slowly conditioning Basil away from his destructive self-talk. Mother's books had only talked about using "Ugh-fields" to squash the ability of those in your power to even _imagine_ rebellion. Ruby, on the other hand, had used that same technique to make someone's life better.

Basil nodded and took a deep breath, "I appreciate your vigilance, Ruby, but today needs to be about Blake. It's not as if my insecurities are going anywhere."

Ruby slapped Basil on the side of his head, "Basil is getting better all the time!" she said to him, "and he's allowed to have his own feelings, even when Blake is in trouble. Don't make fun of him again." she pointed a threatening finger in his face.

The others had all stopped and looked, except for Blake who was averting her eyes respectfully.

Basil looked at the ground and nodded. Ruby stepped in and hugged him.

"You're a good man, Basil Rathbone." She pulled away and looked him in the eye, "So...when do we fight Adam?"

* * *

From across the street, Winter Schnee stood atop the roof of a building in the industrial sector just outside of the Beacon-area of Vale. Weiss and most of her friends had rushed there for some reason. But Weiss was not The Target. Little Sister needed to learn the pain of challenging Mother. She needed to _listen_ and _understand_.

Footsteps came from behind and Winter whirled around, her weapon appeared in her hand without the necessity of conscious thought. A hooded figure in white robes raised his hands in surrender. Winter recognized the uniform, if not the individual. She felt her face split into an asymmetrical sneer at the thought of the group this man represented.

"The Grand Matriarch thought perhaps her princess could use our help," the cultist explained.

He continued, "Teams RWBY and JNPR are about to attack one of Her proxies this very night. In Her great wisdom, the Grand Matriarch has decided that this proxy has outlived his usefulness and so has traded his life for something She desires more. If you wish, their assault should prove an opportune time for you to make your move."

Winter growled and turned away from the disgusting horror she feared she might one day become. Finding out Mother had her own cult, people who _literally_ worshipped her, had been the nail in the coffin of her defiance. Money could only go so far, but worship? Qrow would never be safe if she didn't obey. And piece by piece Mother had boxed her in. How much longer would she have the privilege of her own mind? Put that way the answer was obvious: for as long as Mother allowed. Would she end up like this squirming sycophant in the end? Only if Mother decided it should happen.

Maybe it already had.


	8. Bonus Footage 4

AN: I should note that this story began before any details about the Schnee Family had been revealed beyond Winter's appearance on screen, so please remember that this is an alternate universe. Also the book Arnalda is reading is real and there is a great overview on it by the popular youtuber CGP called, "Rules for Rulers"and its follow up, "Death and Dynasties"

* * *

SOME TIME EARLIER

Arnalda Schnee rarely waited for anything, but this was an exception. Putting on a display of power often had critical timing issues, so she sat there in her rented office space on the top floor of whatever building her servants had managed to find for her and read to pass the time. The space would serve her purposes.

She'd had the room redecorated to match her outfit. The walls, the floor, even the furniture was a sterile, gleaming, torturous white. All sexy, sleek and soulless. White showed its flaws better than any color, whether stained or dingy - all the better to squash any imperfection. All the better to show the proof when perfection was finally attained. Arnalda's business suit and pencil skirt had been washed, dried and ironed less than an hour ago and their white displayed the same naked invincibility as the rest of the room. Her white purse laid on the floor next to her chair, holding the three weapons she soon would wield to destroy her victim.

Of all the books _not_ in her private library, _The Dictator's Handbook_ maintained a special place in her heart. Rudimentary by the standard of the books she'd commissioned, it had nevertheless played a critical role in her early rise to power, and she regarded it with more than a little nostalgia. It's lessons had won out time and time again as she'd tried to prove the author wrong. Power could not be maintained in isolation. You couldn't literally give people _nothing_ and expect to be able to control them. The desire to prove the author wrong had still led to some lesser successes.

In her early days, she'd sought to circumvent the need to share anything resembling power through the formation of a cult of personality, but finding _key supporters_ with the competence necessary _and_ the propensity to be drawn into her orbit had been tiresome and time consuming, though far from impossible. In the end, The Cult of the High Lady had been stocked with absolutely devoted and mostly competent worshippers - perfect automatons for work where security and trustworthiness mattered most and moderate competence was all that was required.

The book had taught her another lesson. For power to be truly secured, an obvious heir had to be ready to take the reigns of power. It didn't matter to _her_ what became of the Schnee Dust Company after her eventual death, but it would matter to her key supporters and _that_ had a tangible effect on her power in the present. Winter couldn't be that heir. The Grand Matriarch had been a touch too….efficacious in ensuring her oldest's obedience, and it had ruined her ability to lead. Winter had become far too afraid of angering her mother to make executive decisions. Fortunately Arnalda had a spare, though it appeared she had overcorrected with that one. Weiss needed to be brought to heel, and _without_ destroying her utterly.

The muffled screams told her that her victim had arrived, but she took care not to appear to take notice. One of her worshippers threw the captive to the ground near her, but she kept her eyes on the book she was no longer reading.

"Mr Rathbone, thank you for coming," she said, emphasizing his lack of choice and thus his powerlessness in this situation.

"Please take a seat," Arnalda gestured across the small table she was sitting in front of to the chair across from her, waited a moment, and then finally turned to look at her captive. He'd been bound hands behind his back and with his feet tied together as per her instruction. And he'd been muzzled. His eyes showed fear. And it wasn't just the shock or the powerlessness of his situation. No, she looked deeper into him than _that_ shallow reality and saw the weakness that defined him.

A moment passed between them, and the Grand Matriarch let her face go limp and her eyes turn hard. Her captive got the message and struggled to his feet, hopped over to the chair, and managed to fall into it without falling right back out.

"Do you play?" she said, reaching her left hand out over the table, palm down and snapped her fingers.

From 64 small sliding doors opened in the frosted glass of the table in an eight by eight pattern, and 16 tiny robots rose from a hidden compartment. They had the shape of chess pieces. Normally Arnalda Schnee was not one to give up even the slightest advantage, but for this particular display it had been important to give her captive the white pieces.

The captive's eyes darted around the room, taking in his circumstances. Given the shock, he probably only now would notice the ten other worshippers in the room and the oppressiveness of its architecture.

"I don't enjoy repeating myself, Mr Rathbone." she said as if she were gently scolding a child.

He looked up at her and nodded.

The Grand Matriarch smiled the way a shark would smile, "Of course you do. What kind of pseudo-intellectual hack _doesn't_ play a little chess?"

She flipped her left hand out to the side and snapped her fingers again. This time one of her worshippers approached her captive and deployed a switchblade precisely as close to her captive's face as he'd been instructed. He then circled around the captive and cut his bonds and removed the muzzle.

"I suppose you're wondering why I invited you here today, correct? My sources tell me that you're reasonably intelligent. So tell me why you're here. And _play_."

Her captive took a deep breath.

"King's pawn to e4. I suppose it would be insufficient to say that this is regarding Weiss? " He said immediately. The white pawn on the fourth column sprouted legs and scurried forward two spaces.

"Quite" the Grand Matriarch replied immediately, and then added, "King's pawn to e5" and it's black counterpart marched forward to meet it.

He took another deep breath, "From what I understand, you disapprove of her relationship with Mr Arc. Beyond that she defied you when you ordered her to terminate the relationship. You intend to teach her the price of disobedience."

"Again correct" Arnalda replied, expectantly.

"Obviously you intend to use me to do it, probably with threats and blackmail to ensure I don't simply tell her about this meeting."

"Likely, " Arnalda replied. She reached into her purse and withdrew a small data-only scroll composed almost entirely of glass. It had a small picture of her captive in the top left and the rest was filled with text.

She continued, "I've come to know quite a lot about you recently. You seem almost competent, but there's only so much that can be gleaned about a person without meeting them. So the primary purpose of this meeting is to determine whether you will become my servant or my slave. That is to say, whether you deserve to benefit from doing my bidding or if you do not."

Her captive looked at her without attempting to mask his skepticism.

Arnalda smiled, "I have certain assets...in particular an individual who has become more trouble than he's worth recently. And an important rule of business is to rid oneself of toxic assets. I believe you've heard of Adam Taurus?"

Her captive's eyes widened. According to the reports, he'd been selling weapons to the White Fang ever since his romantic entanglement with the terrorist-turned-huntress almost certainly in an attempt to get access to her ex-lover.

"King's bishop to c4. Am I to understand, " he began, "that _you_ control the White Fang?"

The Grand Matriarch cackled, "Queen's Knight to c6. My dear boy, I _created_ the White Fang...at least the current version. The original movement created a great deal of bad press for my company, so I corrupted it. I sponsored Mr Taurus's rise to prominence and used it to generate sympathy for the Schnee Dust Company in the public consciousness. You wouldn't _believe_ how difficult it is to make a multibillion lien, multinational corporation appear to be the _underdog_ , but in the end I think I was reasonably successful, don't you?"

He blinked, paused for a moment and then said, "And you're offering to withdraw that support?"

Arnalda shrugged, "Kill him for all I care. I can ensure your ability to catch him off guard and unprotected"

Her captive looked down and said nothing for several moments. Finally he looked up and said, "What are you going to do to Weiss?"

Arnalda smirked, "I thought you were intelligent. You tell me."

"No." he said without a moment's hesitation.

"Excuse me?" she asked with equal amounts of shock and indignation in her voice.

"Even though I've only just met her, it's possible that I might think of a way to hurt Weiss that you would not. I'll not make her suffering the tiniest bit worse by helping you handcraft it."

Arnalda gritted her teeth. She did _not_ like being told, "No."

But instead of replying with words, she simply reached back into her purse and withdrew another data-only scroll. This one had Blake's picture on it.

Her captive looked at it, knowing it for the threat that it was and clenched his jaw.

"You'll hurt the people she cares about," he said, the words seemed to make him sick.

Arnalda's face screwed up in distaste, " _Please_. I'm not some amateur. I'm going to hurt the people _they_ care about. Hurting the people closest to her would be threatening, but it would generally take them away from her presence. This way she can watch her friends suffer and feel responsible for hurting them all the while. In this case in particular I can be quite efficient about it. Her sister, Winter, is in love with Ruby's uncle. I've had him accused of sexual assault and placed in a maximum security prison pending trial."

She smiled and added coyly, "Huntsman are _far too dangerous_ to be placed in a normal jail of course. I even supplied the Semblance Suppression Collar he's wearing as a charitable donation from the Schnee Dust Company and had him housed in a cell quite near the leader of a prison gang I have particular influence over. And we all know how sex criminals fair in prison…"

Her captive stared at her in horror as he spoke, "You're going to force a confrontation between Winter and Weiss."

Arnalda smiled, "I broke Winter long ago. In fact I believe I did _too_ good of a job, but the situation can be salvaged. By forcing the confrontation, I can give Weiss a clear picture of her future if she continues defying me. It was the gentlest correction I could think of."

He paused for a moment, "Queen to f3. And what will Winter do to her sister?" her captive asked.

Arnalda shrugged, "Queen's Knight to b4. I haven't given her any explicit instructions, but Winter has learned the subtleties of my wrath in intimate detail over the years. The details of Winter's actions don't concern me. Regardless of the specific shape of the conflict, Weiss will see the pain and hopelessness in her sister and it will shake her to her core. Weiss always looked up to Winter you see."

"And what is to be my role in this tragedy?" Her captive asked, his sarcasm fueled by hopelessness rather than defiance, Arnalda recognized.

"You will keep my associates here abreast of the goings on in teams RWBY and JNPR. They will relay that information to Winter so that she may better plan how she will pressure Weiss into compliance."

Her captive paused for only a moment, "And if my performance is less than satisfactory?"

Arnalda reached into her purse and retrieved her third and final data-scroll.

Ruby Rose.

Basil knocked over his king.


End file.
